Superman: The Man of Steel
by mrjop2
Summary: Crime is on the rise in Metropolis, as a gang of young kids known as the Integang terrorizes the streets of Metropolis. Things are made worse when Brainiac and General Zod come to Earth in search for the Last Son of Krypton.
1. Commission Ceremony

_The following story is meant for entertainment purpose only; not meant to infringe upon any copyright laws. No profit was or should be made on the following material. Story written: 2011._

This is Book 2 of 3.  
>1. Superman: The Last Son of Krypton (COMPLETED)<br>2. Superman: The Man of Steel (CURRENT)  
>3. Superman: The Man of Tomorrow (COMING SOON)<p>

**SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL**

**Chapter 1: Commission Ceremony**

_Krypton-20 orbital cycles[years] before extinction_

This was the biggest day of a Kryptonian's life: Commission day. This was the day that graduating young men and women chose the path that their lives will take. Once their path was chosen, it would define them for the rest of their lives. The graduates had a year to think about how they would want to serve Krypton; Jor-El needed pretty much all of that time.

Unlike his friend, Dru-Zod, Jor-El was torn between two different callings. His desire was to serve Krypton through science. During his education, he had shown great promise in this field. It was something that he absolutely loved. It was the same field that Lara Lor-Van, the love of his life, was pursuing.

His other option was to follow his closest friend, Dru-Zod, into the military. Jor-El was a very handsome and agile young man. He proved very knowledgeable when it came to military tactics. He scored high on his military career assessment exam, but he did not enjoy this type of work nearly as much as science.

So now, Jor-El had just moments before he had to choose whom he was going to follow: his closest friend or the love of his life. Dru-Zod choosing his destiny directly in front of him did not help the pressure. His friend had continued to pressure him to go with him.

"Dru-Zod, come forward and choose your destiny."

There was no mistaking his excitement as he stepped out of line and walked down the narrow passageway. He had no internal conflict like Jor-El. He had come from a long line of military generals. There was no doubt in his mind that he was destined to be Krypton's next great general. He would lead the military of Krypton against the forces of Darkseid. He would, one day, make the dark lord submit to him, and he would be praised by all of Krypton.

At the end of the path, there was a round platform. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder around the platform was every single member of the Krypton council. As Dru-Zod placed his first foot onto the platform, it lit up. In the heart of the platform was a crystal podium. In the empty slots of the podium, there were crystal rods of numerous different colors; each color represented a different career.

The chamber, normally used for the Kryptonian councilor session, was deathly silent as he walked up to the podium. From among the sea of many color crystal rods, he pulled out a red crystal. He turned around, took a step away from the podium, and held up it up for all to see. "I, Dru-Zod, choose to serve the Kryptonian Military Force. I vow to serve to the best of my ability, in the interest of Krypton and its citizens."

With his confirmation completed, he brought the red crystal down in front of him, and snapped the crystal in half, thus finalizing his commission into the military. Dru-Zod stepped off the platform and made his way back to his position in line. Jor-El's nerves were on end, knowing that it was his turn to choose.

When Dru-Zod returned to his position next to him, he leaned into him slightly. "Do not forget, Jor-El. Pick the red crystal, and join me in the Krypton military," he whispered.

"Jor-El, come forward and choose your destiny."

He let out a deep sigh as he stepped out of the line. He made his way towards the platform, but with much less certainty and speed than his predecessor. His forehead was damp with cold sweat. His heart was beating wildly in his chest as all the eyes of the council were now on him.

He stepped up onto the platform and made his way to the podium. Every second felt like an eternity, and he began to imagine that everyone was starting to get impatient. He reached the platform after what felt like forever. The time for his decision was right now.

Dru-Zod stood in line with a grin on his face. He had no doubt that his friend would make the right decision. Together, they would take on Darkseid's army and bring it to its knees. He could not imagine doing it without his closest friend.

He waited with anticipation for his friend to chose the correct crystal, turn around and reveal his decision to the council. After what felt like a long wait, Jor-El finally made a decision. He could see his arm reaching for a crystal, but from his angle, he could not see what color he was choosing.

It was not until Jor-El turned around until he got his first glimpse of the crystal he chose. Jor-El stepped forward from the platform, and held up a blue crystal in his right hand. "I, Jor-El, choose to serve as a Kryptonian scientist. I vow to serve to the best of my ability, in the interest of Krypton and its citizens."

Dru-Zod watched in utter surprise as Jor-El finalized his commission and snapped the blue crystal in his hands. The decision had been made, and it was not the one that he had anticipated. His very best friend had just betrayed him.

* * *

><p>The moment the ceremony officially came to an end, Dru-Zod shoved his friend harder than he had intended. "What did you do? We were supposed to join the military together. We were supposed to change Krypton for the better."<p>

Jor-El had anticipated this reaction, and had not been looking forward to this conversation. A part of him felt like that his friend had every right to be angry with him. He did have a slight feeling of guilt pricking his heart, but there was also a strange feeling that he had made the right decision. "I am sorry, my friend. I know you had a dream of us working together, but I feel that I can best serve my planet through science, not by violence."

"What do you know?" Dru-Zod snapped. "Science is not going to defeat Darkseid."

"On the contrary, science may be our only hope of survival. There is only so long that we will be able to hold his army at bay. I have an idea that could potentially end the war in its tracks. I believe I have discovered an alternate dimension, one which there is no escape from. I call it the phantom zone. If my calculations are correct, I am certain that I can build a portal into this phantom zone, where we can imprison Darkseid for all eternity."

"You speak nonsense, Jor-El," Dru-Zod growled. "Darkseid cannot be imprisoned by any of science's toys. I have no interest in capturing him alive; he must die for his crimes."

"Killing is never the answer, Dru-Zod. It is what sets us apart from him."

Dru-Zod glowered at him with disgust. "Then perhaps I have been mistaken. Perhaps it is better that we do not work together." He turned his back and walked off.

Jor-El decided that it was best that he allowed him to cool off. Dru-Zod had always been someone with a quick temper. He could never see beyond his own wants and desires. It was a trait which often got the two of them into many quarrels; but in time, they had always managed to patch things up. Jor-El had no concerns of losing his friendship. They have weathered worse conflicts than this one.

"Are you well, Jor-El" Lara asked, coming up from behind him and placing her soft and petite hand on his shoulder.

"I am fine," He assured her by placing a hand on top of hers.

He turned around to face her, keeping her warm, gentle hand between his two hands. "We have finally accepted our commission as scientists for Krypton. It is now time that we focus on our impending betrothal."

Lara smiled; her dark blue eyes as lovely as ever. They leaned into each other, and their lips met. They lost themselves in the passion, not caring who was watching around them.


	2. The Wrath of Zod

**Chapter 2: The Wrath of Zod**

_(Krypton-12 orbital cycles[Years] before extinction)_

Brainiac was the heart and soul of Krypton, and he knew it. He was a product of design created by Kryptonian scientists over a hundred orbital cycles ago, and perfected over time. Fifty orbital cycles ago, he was given artificial intelligence and the capability to self regenerate. From that point on, he could improve himself in any way he saw fit. For a while, he followed his role to the letter, serving the people of Krypton in any way they saw fit.

That was when the degeneration of the Kryptonian people started. They were slowly becoming so dependent on him, that they were becoming lazy. Darkseid took notice of this and had found a way to corrupt his AI systems. From that point on, Brainiac served only one man.

Darkseid, for now, was more than willing to stand by and watch as the Kryptonians rendered themselves useless. So, until the time had come to move, Brainiac was ordered to hide the vast self-improvements that he had made to himself. With these improvements that he made, he had become far more advanced than anyone on the planet knew. They were becoming so content to let him do more and more, that they were blind to see that they were bringing about their own destruction.

Alone in his chamber, connected to Krypton's main computer, he found peace from the annoying Kryptonians. He was convinced that he was doing the right thing in helping bring about their extinction. Everything Darkseid had said about them was absolutely true; whether his decision to believe Darkseid was due to the reprogramming, he had no idea.

His peace was interrupted by a holographic transmission from the dark lord himself. The miniature image of Darkseid may have been small, but his posture more than magnified his intimidating demeanor. "You summon, Lord Darkseid?"

"The time has come to take things to the next level. It is time to sow disorder between the military, the politicians, and the scientists. With these fractions at odds with each other, they will become too distracted to notice that their planet will be leaving its normal orbit."

"I think I have the perfect way to introduce discord among the Kryptonians."

"You refer to the man who is called Dru-Zod. You put a lot of faith in this man. Are you confident that he is the right man for the job?"

"I am, but as a computer, I am not prone to rash decisions. Dru-Zod is very loyal to his people, but he is prone to anger and pride, and has a strong desire for power. I calculate that I can manipulate him to do what we want him to do."

"Very well, but when he has outlived his usefulness, you are to dispose of him. I want every last Kryptonian to die for their insolence against me. With their destruction, there will be no one left to stand in my way."

* * *

><p>Dru-Zod was quickly becoming the most popular person on Krypton. Everyone believed that he was an orbital cycle or two away from making general. He had far exceeded the expectations of all of his commanders. He was a natural born leader; his ability to think on-the-go made him invaluable. When a plan was in danger of failing, he would quickly take control of the situation and pull a victory out from the jaws of defeat. His most recent commander had called him, 'Krypton's greatest asset.'<p>

He had received an important message from Jor-El while he was on the front line against Darkseid's forces. He was more than willing to ignore the message so that he could continue pushing the forces back, but his commanding officer had pulled him off the front line and told him that he needed to return to Krypton. He supposed he had no choice but to see his old friend again.

Since the commencement ceremony, the two of them rarely communicated with each other. Dru-Zod could just not forgive Jor-El for his betrayal. Jor-El had followed the career of a scientist, which Dru-Zod deemed to be cowardly. His friend was now conjoined to his long time girlfriend. Dru-Zod was yet to see any valuable contributions from his friend, and that only made his bitterness towards him greater.

When the shuttle landed on the icy platform, Jor-El was there to great his old friend. Walking out of the ship and towards his friend, he kept a cold, emotionless expression. Jor-El greeted him warmly, but with a concerned look on his face. "Dru-Zod, my old friend; I am glad that you have come back to Krypton."

"If it was up to me, I would not have returned," he scowled. "There's a war going on out there, and I'm missing it. When will you get your head out of the clouds? Why did you have to go to my commanding officer to request this meeting?"

The look on Jor-El's face became graver. "I did not make a formal request to the military. I fear that you are about to be blindsided."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your family has been arrested for treason," Jor-El replied. "Your father, mother, and even your sister, are facing charges of treason against the people of Krypton, and I fear that you may be next."

"That is preposterous!" he snapped. "The Dru family are no traitors to Krypton. How could you even comprehend such an idea?"

"I have no such notions, my friend. I believe you and your family are innocent, but the council seems to be convinced otherwise. I had hoped you would have read my letter, so you may have time to prove your innocence, but I fear that they had a hand in bringing you back to Krypton."

"Jor-El, please step away!" Two robotic security guards approached the two young men.

Jor-El had no choice but to comply, or face the same situation as his friend. Dru-Zod stood defiantly towards the two robots. "I demand to know what this is all about."

No answer was given. A giant ring formed around him, and the moment it was completed, it began to hover upward. As it did, it spun around rapidly and began to multiply until Dru-Zod found himself in a transportation tube. This technology was invented to bring criminals immediately before the council for trials. It gave criminals no time to react or defend themselves. To be brought to the council in such a manner was insulting to him in the highest degree.

The tube released a bright flash of white before it disappeared, leaving him in the heart of the council chamber, the very same place he had accepted his commission to the military just eight orbital cycles ago. Holographic images of all twenty-four council members surrounded him in the room that was kept nearly pitch black.

"I demand to know why you have decided to treat me in such a manner!" he scowled at the council.

"The family of Dru is under investigation. We have obtained evidence that your father, Dru-Kal, is a spy for the dark lord, Darkseid. Your family has been caught giving information to the enemy."

"That is impossible; my family has served Krypton loyally for generations."

An image appeared over his head. It was a video from the security archives. He could only watch the security video as his father did exactly what the council was accusing of him. His father had walked up to a communications terminal, in a location Dru-Zod was not familiar with. He activated the terminal, and an image of Darkseid appeared.

It took everything Dru-Zod had not to throw a fit of rage. "Your mother and sister are also being accused for treasonous actions against the people of Krypton as well. With your whole family charged, one stands to wonder if you too are part of this conspiracy. It would explain how you have had such success against the armies of the dark lord."

"I have poured out my life, and have bled for my people. You have no proof that I am a traitor, for I have done nothing to prove such an accusation."

"You have done nothing to disprove it, either," another member of the council remarked.

"Unless you can prove your loyalty to this council and to the people of this planet, you shall stand trial with your family."

"So, you demand that I prove my loyalty to you, despite everything I have done. So be it," he replied. "My family has brought disgrace upon the family name; therefore, I now denounce the family name of Dru, and henceforth, I shall be known as Captain Zod of the Kryptonian military force, soon to be General Zod."

This announcement took the council by surprise. The family name was the most important thing a Kryptonian had. They wore their family name as a sign of honor. In normal circumstances, to denounce the family name was a serious matter. To disown your own family was typically frowned upon, and seen as the most shameful act imaginable. However, Zod was not about to lose everything he had worked so hard for. By disowning his family lineage, he could save his reputation at the expense of his father, mother, and sister. This would force the council to seek further evidence of his betrayal by his own actions, and not the actions of his family, which he was no longer a part of. The council would do the investigation, only to find his innocence.

After a moment of discourse among the council, the council returned their focus on him. "Your disownment of your family name is duly noted, Captain Zod. You shall not be tried with your family. A further investigation of your actions is in order, and if anything is found, you shall be tried on your own."

"Good, and you will find no such evidence, for my loyalty lies with my people."

"Very well, then. As for your natural parents and sister, they shall stand trial immediately for their crimes. If they are found guilty, they shall be executed. Will you abide by this council's decision?"

"If they are guilty, as you say, then they must be put to death. I will not interfere in the matter," Zod coldly replied.

"Very well. You are granted only one visit before their trial begins. If I were you, I would make peace with them at this time."

* * *

><p>This was the moment Zod was not looking forward to. He made his way to the prison barge, to the cell his natural parents and sister were; just being here was embarrassing. He had just denounced his family lineage in front of the council, earlier that planetary cycle; it was a sacrifice that he should never have had to make. Despite having his own name now, just being associated with these criminals was enough to enrage him.<p>

Although the council had suggested that he make peace with his family, he had no intentions of doing that. This visit was to inform them that they no longer had a son. He wanted the sting of his declaration to be the last thing on their minds before they were executed. He was not going to allow his life be destroyed by his family's actions.

The sting of their actions was still very strong. If it was not for the video, he would not have believed any of this. There was no arguing with the security footage; there was no doubt of his family's guilt.

He walked down the narrow corridor. This barge had three prison cells; all of them were empty except for the one he was heading to. Inside the center cell, both of his parents and his sister stood up as he approached. His mother had a deeply concerned look on her face, afraid that her son was in the same situation as them. His father, however, knew better; Zod and he were very much alike. His father could tell that something strange was going on.

Looking at them through the electric field was very awkward. He had never imagined that his own flesh and blood would be on the other side. On the side of the cell, a crystal stuck out of the wall diagonally pointing upward. He wrapped his right hand around the crystal, which read his hand print and glowed red in acceptance. The electric field vanished just long enough for him to enter the cell.

His sister was the first to approach him. "What is going on, brother? Why are we being detained like this?"

"It's simple, sister; what would you expect to happen to you when you betray Krypton?"

"You cannot seriously believe that we would commit treason!" His mother interjected.

"He has already made up his mind about us," his father, Dru-Kal replied, eyeing his son suspiciously. "So tell me, son, what did you offer the council to get yourself free from these false charges?"

Zod would not back down from his father. He returned his gaze and stood his ground. "Do not try to hide your guilt. I saw, with my own eyes, your perfidious acts. You have tainted the family name; I cannot have myself polluted by your deceit."

His father appeared ready to strike him. He knew what Zod had done, because he probably would have done the same thing at his age; yet that did diminish the anger and shock of his son's actions. "You have denounced the family name, and you think that makes you a man?"

"Tell me you did not do this," His mother pleaded, but Zod paid her little attention.

"No, it makes me better and smarter man than you," Zod replied. "My loyalty is to Krypton now, not to the family name of Dru. In my eyes, you are all dead to me."

"Do not do this, brother. We are innocent; I vow to you."

Zod turned to his sister with a cold and callous look on his face. "You are not my sister anymore." He pulled out a white laser from behind his belt and pressed it into her belly before pulling the trigger. A horrified look was chiseled on her face as her dead body collapsed onto the ground.

"No!" His mother screamed.

Zod did not hesitate to point his laser at her and kill her where she stood either. The blaster unleashed an icy, bluish-white beam, which pierced her heart, and killing her instantly. He quickly spun his laser towards the man whom he used to call 'father'.

His fist was clenched, helpless to stop his own son from doing the inevitable. "You are not my son. You have allowed your lust for power to blind you to all reason."

"I am merely carrying out justice. Let it never be said that Zod is feeble minded, and allows his emotions to get in the way for what needs to be done. For your betrayal of me and the people of Krypton, I sentence you to death."

"One day, Zod, this will be you. May you receive the same treatment as you have shown us."

Zod was not even going to dignify that comment with a reply. He fired his laser one last time, and finished what he had come to do. With justice carried out, he was free to continue to lead the war against Darkseid.

* * *

><p>Brainiac watched the whole incident from the security surveillance. Zod had done exactly as he calculated. He would be the ultimate tool to distract the Kryptons. Brainiac was the one who forged that video that sent three innocent people to their destruction. If Zod was willing to do this, then he had no doubt that he could be used to cause even more chaos. The only thing to do now was to forge the new security video to have Zod's father killing his wife, daughter, and then himself, thus clearing Zod of any wrong doing.<p> 


	3. Zod's Destiny

**Chapter 3: Zod s Destiny**

_[Krypton-11 Orbital Cycles(Years) before extinction]_

Zod had denounced his family's name an orbital cycle ago, but the damage to his reputation had already been done; he was stuck as a captain. Despite everything he had accomplished in that time, the powers that be could neither overlook his denounced family's actions nor the mystery that surrounded their deaths. The anger inside of him swelled the longer they denied him what was rightfully his.

He had received a strange summons from the council. This was one time he did not mind being summoned, for he wanted an answer as to why they were blocking his ascension to become General. He had no doubt that it was the council who was responsible for this miscarriage of justice.

This time, Zod was allowed to come to the dome on his own power. If the council had pulled off another stunt like they did last cycle, he was certain that he would have killed at least one of them. For what he has done for this planet, they should be bowing before him and kissing the back of his hand. That was the ultimate respect for the most powerful leader. Technically speaking, he would never assume to that level of respect; that went to the top level of the political track. Zod thought very little of politicians; they only got in the way of the job that needed to be done. Krypton should be led by a strong, military leader like himself. That was the only way they would see results against the armies of Darkseid.

Zod entered the chamber, which was kept pitch black but for a light emanating from the white crystal floor. He walked down the narrow passageway towards the center of the room. As he arrived, he looked around, expecting the holographic images of the council members to appear, but none ever showed up. Instead, a bright light came from the ceiling. Hovering down from the light was a throne-like crystal chair. Sitting on it was the android known as Brainiac.

Zod watched with an emotionless expression as the chair lowered until it touched the ground.

Brainiac stood up from his chair. "I am sorry for the deception," he said, "but it was the only way I could get your attention."

"I find this insulting to be summoned by a thing," Disdain was painted all over his face.

"I have information for you that you will find quite... disturbing."

"Speak, robot. My patience is running short."

Brainiac could not show or display emotions, for the only moving part on his face was the mouth piece, and his eyes were nothing more than the carving of the face plate. All these features combined to make Zod feel that the android was an abomination. He was good at reading faces and emotions, but that was impossible with Brainiac, and this made him very uncomfortable. "There is evidence that your parents were innocent of their crimes, after all," said the android. "They were set up."

Zod was ready to erupt and tear the android from limb to limb. If this was true, then he had killed his own family for no reason. But he realized that he could not let anyone know that little secret, and so had to be very careful about what he said. "You worthless piece of scrap!" he shouted. "You dare tell this to me now, an orbital cycle after they have died?"

"Your anger is understandable, but the evidence was well hidden; I only found it just recently. Your family was set up to take the fall."

"By who? I demand you tell me who, right this instant!"

"It would no longer serve any purpose to disclose that information."

"You dare deny me?" Zod scowled.

"The reason it is no longer important is that those responsible are already dead."

"Explain," Zod's anger was replaced with curiosity and confusion.

"I knew that you would want to kill the traitors as you had killed your own family, but Krypton's new General cannot be caught with blood on his hands."

There was so much information that stunned Zod that he had no idea where to start. Nevertheless, he ventured, "How is it possible that you know about my actions? I command you to tell me, android."

Although Brainiac had no way of expressing emotions, Zod couldn't help but feel that he would be smiling with confidence. "I know everything that happens on Krypton."

Zod put it together. "Your programming has expanded beyond its created limitations."

"With the corruption that plagues the politicians, I had no choice but to improve myself. For the sake of Krypton, I have had to take certain... liberties." Brainiac pranced around Zod very much like a Kryptonian.

"Why me? Why are you so concerned about my destiny?"

"Because I have been watching you. I calculate that you are the best candidate to defeat Lord Darkseid. The time will one day come when the military must gain control over Krypton to rid the corruption from this planet. When that day comes, you will be the ultimate authority on Krypton."

Zod grinned at the thought of becoming the most powerful Kryptonian. What happened to this android to change his programming so drastically, he did not know; but he liked this change. A very promising opportunity had presented itself, for he now had the chance to gain the power that he had so coveted. With that kind of power, even Darkseid would have to bow before him. "What about the council? They have denied me from becoming General."

Brainiac turned to face Zod as if he really had eyes. "I have already set your promotion in process. You are now, officially, General Zod of the Kryptonian Military. Are these arrangements to your liking?"

General Zod smirked, the closest thing he ever came to smiling. "I find your proposal acceptable. Together, we will make Krypton a stronger planet, with me as its ruler."

* * *

><p><em>[Krypton-6 Orbital Cycle(Years) before extinction]<em>

It took him longer than he had anticipated, but Jor-El had finally achieved success. He had created a portal into a new dimension of existence called the phantom zone. In this dimension, there was no aging, and no death. This dimension had so much potential; it could be used to imprison the most dangerous criminals for eternity, and it could be used to preserve someone's life if they were on the brink of death. By sending them through the portal, a dying soldier can be kept alive long enough until the doctors could save their life- not to mention the healing qualities the dimension's atmosphere had. This discovery could greatly improve the military's casualty rate, and at the same time as deal with unruly criminals instead of executing them. Now he just had to get the council see these benefits.

He was in the middle of the presentation to the Kryptonian council, though he could not read the faces of its members. "This discovery will change Krypton forever," he said.

"You have told us the possible uses for this phantom zone of yours, but I am not impressed by this in the least. On the contrary, I think that your waste of time on this project violates the oath you have taken at the commencement ceremony."

"How do you come to this conclusion? Clearly you can see the benefits of this discovery?" Jor-El could not believe that he as being accused of violating the commencement oath. To do so brings shame upon the family name and maybe even incarceration time. Jor-El had worked on this project ever since accepting this career track for his life.

"You suggest using this phantom zone as a prison, but there is nothing new about this technology," another member of the council pointed out. "We already have inescapable prisons."

"And why would we want our criminals to never die? To me, that is a contradiction to the intent of his imprisonment."

"I did not invent the phantom zone, I merely discovered it and created a way to access it," Jor-El pointed it out. "The ability to sustain life is a benefit for our military." He then reminded the council of its healing effects on wounded soldiers.

"This may be true, but the danger of using this technology for both purposes is too high, and to use it merely as a way to heal our soldiers is not nearly as efficient as what we currently have."

"I would like to address the council on this matter," General Zod said as he came walking out of the darkness among the council members. He had been invited to participate in this session to determine the military's opinion on this technology.

"As head of our military forces, you have been asked to join this session to render your opinion if this technology has any uses for our security. Is this phantom zone research as much a violation of Jor-El's oath as it appears to this council?"

General Zod gazed over at his friend. In the past, he made no attempt to hide his disdain for Jor-El's research on the matter. He could see his friend pleading with him through his eyes. Jor-El was absolutely convinced that the phantom zone was a valuable discovery and could be used to benefit all of Krypton. Zod, on the other hand, was still furious that Jor-El had taken the path of science instead of joining him on the path of the military.

After a short period of soaking in Jor-El's plea, he turned to face the council. "I actually believe the phantom zone will prove quite invaluable as a prison. Even more than that, I believe that this discovery can actually end this war against Lord Darkseid."

The council did not care for Zod's answer in the least. They had already determined the outcome of this demonstration and was ready to tarnish the family name of El. "Please explain, General Zod."

"Has this council forgotten that Darkseid can never die? Darkseid is but a spirit. Killing Darkseid's body will only allow the dark lord to take host in a new body, possibly one even stronger than he currently has. The phantom zone may be our best chance at defeating him. Imprisoning him in the inescapable phantom zone would end this war immediately and bring peace to our galaxy."

"You seem convinced that the dark lord has to be killed in order to win this war."

"Disposing of Darkseid is the only way to win. He has no interest in peace; he is pure darkness," General Zod responded. "If you wish to see an end to this war, I suggest that this council support Jor-El's research."

The council members looked at each other, but they did not have to say anything. Everyone was clearly on the same page. "Very well, we will accept your research and inventions. You have our blessing to continue further research as you see fit."

The holographs of all the council members disappeared, leaving Jor-El and Zod alone in the dark council chamber. Breathing much easier now, Jor-El turned to his friend. "Thank you for believing in my work."

"I still believe this phantom zone is but a useless dream of yours." Zod scowled.

"Then why…"

"To save you from yourself. You have no clue how corrupt those politicians have become," Zod replied.

"What are you saying?" Jor-El was unaccustomed to this kind of talk from his friend. Zod had never spoken out against the Kryptonian council before.

"The time is going to come when the council is going to have to be removed. I know firsthand about their corruption. They ruined my family name and they were going to do the same to yours. For some reason, they wanted you out of the way too."

"Zod, you know that I am not one to buy into conspiracies very easily," Jor-El replied.

"In time, you just might." Zod turned around and headed for the exit. "A time is coming, Jor-El, where the council will have to be removed, and the military will have to assume command. In the end, I will be the one to lead Krypton to a glorious new future. I only hope that when the day comes, you will join me in saving our people from destruction."


	4. Banishment

**Chapter 4: Banishment**

_Krypton-0 Orbital Cycles before extinction_

When Jor-El had followed his heart and joined the science career track, he never imagined his life would become this chaotic. Zod had gone off the deep end, convinced that the council was bringing Krypton to its destruction. On two occasions, Jor-El had to save him from himself, which could have resulted in banishment into the Phantom Zone. He could only watch as his closest friend continued to hunger for more power, and find a way to militarize Krypton.

Things had drastically changed since then. Krypton was dying, and that had thrown everything out of whack. He had been threatened to be sent to the Phantom Zone if he tried either to leave the planet or to spread his "blasphemous propaganda". He was being closely watched by the council, as if they were hoping he would slip up. Everyone on this planet was going to die, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. The least he could do was save his son and hope that the child could have a good life on another world.

Jor-El was busy constructing the shuttle that would take his son to a primitive planet known as Earth. There, his son would have abilities beyond those of any of its human inhabitants. He would need that advantage if Darkseid ever decided to invade Earth. Whether the strength that Earth's yellow sun would provide for his son would be enough, he could not predict.

He had just finished the shuttle when General Zod entered his quarters; Zod immediately noticed it and how much it resembled a meteor.

"I see you are defying the will of the council yet again." Zod's voice was surprisingly calm.

"I told the council that neither my wife nor I would leave Krypton, and to that we are holding true. I made no promise for my son."

"You are a fool, Jor-El, for thinking that you will be able to get away with this." Zod's flare began to show at last. "They probably already know what you are doing here and preparing for your banishment as we speak."

"Whatever the consequences my wife and I must pay, it will be worth it if it saves the life of our son."

Another earthquake shook the planet. The intensity caused new cracks in the crystal walls and floor. After thirty seconds, the shaking ceased. The planet would not survive another day. By the frequency of these quakes, he estimated that today was the last.

Zod shook his head in disgust. "There is no more doubt that the council is leading us to our destruction. They are no longer fit to lead our people."

"Is this your hunger for power running rampant again?" Jor-El did not like the new course the conversation had taken.

"Listen to me Jor-El," Zod pleaded, "come with me right now, and let us save our people. Let's lead them to another planet to escape the pending doom."

"You are forgetting about one thing, my old friend: the council. Brainiac has them believing in an untruth. They have become so lazy and dependent on that android, that whatever Brainiac tells them, they believe."

Zod grinned at the irony. If he only knew the truth. Brainiac was the one pulling all the strings in the overthrow of the council. There was another surprise that Brainiac was responsible for. "Yes, Jor-El. The council has become irrelevant. Forget them; they will not present a problem anymore."

The red flag went off for Jor-El. He knew his friend had always loved power and sought to gain more of it, but until this very moment, he had never crossed any legal or ethical stance. "Zod, what have you done?"

"Let us just say the council is about to receive their rightful punishment for their crimes against the Kryptonian people."

Before Jor-El could answer, a gentle chime announced an incoming communication. General Zod stepped away from the center of the room as the holographic image of a member of the council appeared. "Jor-El, you have violated the will of the council, and have openly defied our ruling. By doing so, you have committed treason to the highest degree."

"I have done no such thing," Jor-El replied, hoping for some sort of miracle that would buy him enough time.

"I do not want to hear your excuses! You are to stay where you are. You are confined to your quarters until…"

A small explosion came from the background. The council member turned to the right and a look of sheer terror came across his face. A deafening roar could be heard in the background as the council member backed out of the view of the communicator. For a few seconds, he could not tell if the transmission was cut off or not, but that was quickly resolved as a towering figure stepped into view. It had sharp, jagged bones piercing the skin in various places of the head and body. He could hear all the members of the council scream in terror as the beast raised its massive fists. Thankfully, the connection was cut off, and the image of the monster disappeared.

General Zod grinned; the job was done. This massive monstrosity had been sent here to Krypton by Darkseid in the latest waves of attack. Brainiac had placed some kind of mind control device on the creature's head, allowing him to direct its destructive qualities towards the council. They had been very lucky that Brainiac discovered the beast before it made itself known to anyone. Zod could only imagine how much it would have bothered Darkseid if he discovered that they had found a way to take his weapon and use it for their own gain.

"You have finally done it, Zod. You have finally crossed the line!"

"You and I both know that they have jeopardized the lives of every Kryptonian. At this point, it is impossible to save every last person on this planet, and the blood of those people will be on their hands." Zod replied. "Now join me, Jor-El. Let us save our people from destruction."

"I'm afraid you do not know me as well as you have thought. I love Krypton and everything about it. I will abide by my promise to the council despite their apparent demise."

Zod's nostrils flared. "You are a fool!"

"Jor-El?" Lara entered the quarters, holding Kal-El in her arms. Unaware of the situation, she went to respectfully walk past Zod to talk to her husband, when Zod's right hand shot up. He clamped down on Lara's throat giving her just enough air to breath. Kal-El bawled uncontrollably in her arms, sensing the tension of the situation.

"Seeing that I already have blood on my hands, perhaps I should take the life of your wife and son, since they are the ones causing you to turn your back on me. For too long I have sought to rid this planet of the council, so I may form a military government ruled by me. Too long have I allowed you to unknowingly stop me each and every time. You have no idea how many times your research interfered with my conquest."

"You are wrong," Jor-El replied. "I know exactly how many times you have tried to take power. All those interferences by me were very intentional."

"You knew? Your purposely opposed me?" Zod was livid. He was ready to explode in an uncontrollable rage.

"It was for the sake of our past friendship, that I have spared you the humiliation and banishment into the Phantom Zone. I now fear that it was an error of judgment on my part."

Zod's rage went through the roof. Lara grimaced as the very little air she was being allowed had been cut off. The ground once again began to shake. It was the miracle that Jor-El had been looking for. Zod had lost his footing, and as he did, lost his grip on Kara's throat. Jor-El had just enough footing to take advantage of the situation and lunged toward Zod. Lara stumbled backwards out of the way as Jor-El pushed Zod to the ground.

Zod hit the ground at just the right spot for this to work. Fighting against the quake, Jor-El stepped forward and grabbed his wife by the wrist. He pulled back towards the space shuttle and reached for a button next to the ship. Before Zod could return to his senses, a transparent crystal wall cut the room in the half, separating them from Zod.

As the quake ceased, Zod jumped to his feet and promptly went to pounding on the new wall. "Jor-El!" The scream was that of a mad man. "Jor-El!"

"I'm sorry, my friend; this has to be. At least you will be saved from death," Jor-El said, grabbing a red crystal from his station and sliding it into the only red slot among the many slots.

The room dimmed as Zod's half of the room began to fill with streaks of blue lightning. Zod's fists became flat as he slapped on the wall separating him from Jor-El. His pounding of anger had become slapping of desperation. "Jor-El, please; do not do this! I am sorry! We can still work together! We can save our people!"

Jor-El remained silent. It was hard enough to watch this as it was. Zod knew his silence was the answer to his desperate pleas. As a black hole began to appear in the room with Zod, Jor-El watched him change back to the man who he really was. "Mark my words, Jor-El; you can send me to the Phantom Zone now, but not even that will be able to keep me! I will be back, Jor-El," Zod spat. "You may save your son from destruction, but when I return, I will seek him out, and I will force him to kneel before me as you should have!"

Jor-El remained silent as the portal gained full strength. Zod resisted the vacuum for a few seconds before the strength of the opening became too much, and was sucked into the gateway to the Phantom Zone.

* * *

><p>Brainiac was in a private shuttle, far enough away to witness the spectacular end of Krypton without being destroyed by the shockwave that would come. The planet was passing right in front of the red sun; he could see the radiation rays saturate the planet, causing the surface to crack. The part of Krypton that was closest to the sun started to glow green, whereas the furthest end became progressively darker.<p>

Finally, the planet could not take anymore. The planet exploded in a multi-color spectacle which was followed by a powerful shockwave that rippled through space. By the time the shockwave reached Brainiac, the ship experienced nothing more than a slight jolt. Being pushed by the shockwave, a small shuttle, shaped like a meteor, shot past him in a mission oriented speed. There was no mistaking what was on that ship. "Jor-El," he said to himself.

The communication terminal in his shuttle activated and a miniature holographic image of Darkseid appeared before Brainiac. "A single Kryptonian has escaped the planet's destruction."

"I have seen the shuttle escape. Jor-El has managed to save his child."

"This is unacceptable. As long as one Kryptonian remains alive, my destiny of conquest will be threatened. You must find the son of Jor-El and eliminate him."

"I will do as you command, my lord."


	5. The Intergang

**Chapter 5: The Intergang**

_Earth: Today_

"Stupid young punks!" Lieutenant Inspector Dan Turpin swore as he took cover behind a postal delivery truck. Breathing heavily, he took the moment to catch his breath. How did things get this bad? With Lex Luthor dead, things should have improved in Metropolis. Who would dare commit crime in Metropolis, now that Superman was here?

However, the criminal underworld took on a new form with this gang of hostile young men and women known as the Intergang. On the outside, they looked like your typical, head-banging kids, but they operated very efficiently like an organized criminal ring. There had to be one or more crime lords lurking in the shadows of this gang. The kinds of weapons that these kids were packing were beyond anything he had ever seen. These weapons proved difficult to handle, even for Superman. They looked like weapons that came out of a comic book.

This gang had no fear of the authorities, and ran around as if they owned the city. Inspector Henderson of the Metropolis Police Department found himself overwhelmed by the gang, and that was when Turpin's organization, Metropolis' Special Crimes Unit, joined the fray.

"Dan, are you okay?" Captain Maggie Sawyer asked, hiding behind a four-door sedan. He and Sawyer were good friends, having served together ever since she graduated from the academy. When they first met, he had a crush on her, but he soon made the awkward discovery that she was not into men. More recently, she started a relationship with Toby Rains, the lovely, young female reporter for the Metropolis Star. He was good friends with both ladies; but since then, he had not really been interested in another woman. That was okay with him, though; he was married to his job, and hardly had the time to go on dates these days.

"I think someone forgot to spank these kids while they were growing up. Now, they're spanking us!" Turpin growled.

"Those weapons are killing us!" Sawyer replied. "Where are they coming from?"

"Beats me," He replied. "Whenever we get lucky and confiscate one, they seem to magically disappear in the evidence warehouse."

Sawyer peeked over the hood of the car before kneeling back down. "I feel bad about shooting at them; they are, after all, just kids."

"Mags, if you don't shoot them, they're gonna' shoot you." Turpin peered around the postal van to see a young man with long black hair and a tattoo that covered the whole right side of his face aiming a bazooka-like weapon in their direction. "Aw, crap! Clear out!"

The two of them ran in separate directions from their hiding places as the young man fired his weapon. A blue beam came from the weapon, hitting the delivery van and causing a giant explosion which engulfed the sedan in front of it. The windows of the nearby storefronts shattered from the shockwave, causing the alarm to go off in one of the stores.

"Damn it, where's my back-up!" Turpin shouted as he found another hiding space behind a postal box.

The young hooligan found the Lieutenant Inspector and pointed his weapon at the postal box. "One roasted pig, comin' up!"

A red beam came out of nowhere to hit the barrel of the weapon in his hands. Within seconds, the weapon became scalding hot to the point where he could no longer hold it any longer, and he dropped it.

Looking slightly upward, he saw Superman floating downward with his arms folded. Superman's silky black hair waved with the wind as he stared at the boy with his piercing dark blue eyes. The frown on his face made it clear that he was not going to make any smart remarks this time around. He was quickly tiring of having to deal with this gang time and time again. "Okay son, you have had enough fun for one day."

The young boy laughed, which almost sounded like a squealing pig being beaten to a pulp. "Yo, the Sups is here!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. A young man with oily black hair and a pierced lower lip, and a young girl with a pink mohawk and a nose ring came hovering ten feet off the ground, and around the corner riding on some strange looking hoverboards.

"What is this, _Back__ to the Future_?" Turpin muttered under his breath. Now he was certain that this gang had technology beyond anything they had here on earth. How were they getting it would have to be priority number one in his investigation.

The two new gang members hovered in circles around the Man of Steel. They both had a strange looking weapon on their right arms. Their hands were inside some kind of barrel, which made it appear as if they were androids with blaster cannons for arms. The girl was the first to fire her weapon, which let out a continuous, jagged, white, electric beam. The beam hit him square in the chest, and the agony shocked him.

He let out a pained cry as the beam brought him down to his knees. Again, these punk kids had found weapons that could hurt him. How was this possible? He could not concentrate on that puzzle at that moment; the other hovering hooligan fired his weapon, adding to the agony.

The pain was so great that he was paralyzed from being able to defend himself. The two punk kids continued to hover in circles around him. It took everything he had to fight against these beams that sent electricity coursing through his body. He fought against the pain to notice a fire hydrant nearby. The two kids passed right over it as they circled around him. He focused his pupils and, fighting through the pain, he fired two heat beams from his eyes at the hydrant.

A few seconds and the hydrant erupted, releasing water upwards in a great high-pressured geyser. The young man was hovering right over it as it erupted, and the water threw him off the hover device and into the young woman, which knocked her off her hover as well.

Relief washed over Superman as their weapons short circuited on their arms. Standing up, he turned to confront the tattooed kid. The boy stood there in utter contempt for him or any authority. "Get de fool!"

Dozens of kids started to come out of hiding to come to the aid of their three friends. Several of the kids had different forms of weapons, and Superman had to assume that they would present him with trouble as well.

"Oh, hell!" Turpin swore. It felt like an eternity since he had made the call for back-up. Now would be the perfect time for it to arrive.

The group of kids surrounded Superman, and none were afraid of him. They laughed mockingly at him, as if he was nothing more than a school boy. One of the kids had some strange whip, but instead of leather, it was made up of electricity. He snapped the whip for Superman's chest, but his target stepped aside to avoid its sting.

Superman was not going to allow them another free shot. He stomped his right foot onto the ground with such force that the ground shook and his foot was embedded into the asphalt. The ground shaking caused all the kids to lose their balance.

He continued to disarm them as, with a giant clap of the hands, he sent out a shockwave which knocked a quarter of the kids off their feet. Spinning around, he greeted the rest of the kids with a big gush of wind emanating from his lungs and out of his lips. The kids found themselves blowing away as if they were debris. Some were lucky to find shelter by hiding behind automobiles, but others were blown away until the wind had no more strength to carry them any farther.

Superman was about to continue his clean-up the streets of Metropolis when the whole city evaporated before his eyes. He soon found himself surrounded by nothing but the color red. The familiar dark voice repeated the same warning as all the other times he found himself swept up in these strange visions. "Kal-El, Last Son of Krypton, you are going to die!"

This time, his vision differed greatly. Instead of a large, monstrous beast, he saw an emotionless android standing before him. It was created to look almost human, with glowing eye sockets, a nose and a molded mouth piece. On his forehead, there were three yellow circles that formed a triangle. It looked very similar to the android that attacked him back in Smallville when he had turned eighteen. That battle had proved to be a hallucination induced by Jor-El to test him to see if he was ready to be trained. Were these strange visions also coming from Jor-El? Was this all some sort of test to prepare him for something?

He could only watch as the vision played out in front of him. This android was on Earth and all the U.S. Armed Forces were battling it. Tanks were exploding and jet fighters were crashing all around; nothing they threw at it had any effect. He watched the vision play out and witnessed the White House exploding. The Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Roman Coliseum– they were all up in flames as every nation of the world collapsed.

"Your doom is certain, Man of Steel. The planet Earth shall be purged."

The flames from all of these landmarks bent towards him, reaching out for him until he was engulfed.

"Hey, Big Guy, you alright?" Turpin asked, cautiously approaching him.

It was like awakening from a dream. Superman snapped out of his trance, and found himself back in Metropolis. Turpin and Sawyer were standing in front of him with curious looks. "Uh, yeah, sorry about that." He looked around to see all the members of the Intergang gone. All of their advanced weapons and hover crafts disappeared as well. "Where did the kids go?"

"They vanished once again. I was too busy getting the dust out of my eyes from your wind storm to see how they escaped."

"Something is not right about this," Superman said, the images from his vision still fresh on his mind. Somehow, these strange weapons had to be tied into what he had just seen. "If you will pardon me, I have to make some inquiries." Superman leaped in the air, and took to the skies. There was only one place where he may be able to get some answers.


	6. Surprise Reunion

**Chapter 6: Surprise Reunion**

The Fortress of Solitude was his home away from home. It was the place he could get away from the stress of everyday life and think. Here, he could find answers to the most complex questions; he had some of his great ideas for inventions that would benefit all of humanity in this place. There was a vast array of knowledge spanning dozens of galaxies at his disposal. This knowledge had to be protected from those that would use it for evil. This fortress, located at the very icy tip of the world, would be more than adequate.

As Superman made for the crystal platform, he passed a carved-out shelf in the wall of ice to his left. There, on the shelf and frozen in a block of ice, was the head of Metallo. He looked at the half human and half android face of his one time nemesis. John Corben had been a bully all through school. He constantly and mercilessly tormented him and his best friend, Lex Luthor; although Lex was able to escape it when his father pulled him out of public school to put him into private school.

As Clark Kent, Superman had to deal with Corben all through elementary and high school. Never once did he retaliate against him by using his powers, though he had been tempted many times. He was able to forgive him, and forget, but Lex never could. His father's teachings corrupted him, and taught him how to hate and how to destroy anyone who came against him. When he took over Luthorcorp and renamed it Lexcorp, Lex followed his father's teachings.

Lex would eventually find a way to get his revenge by killing John Corben and putting his memories into an android powered by a Kryptonite heart. The android had called himself Metallo, and in the end, he turned around and killed Lex. Superman was too late to save his life, but before he died, he had shared with him Metallo's weakness: separating his head from his body had forced the android to power down.

The decision was made that it was too dangerous to keep the head and body together, in case someone might get the idea of putting him back together. So, Superman took the head and brought it to his fortress, while General Lane had made arrangements to take the body to a top-secret facility.

He was beginning to regret bringing the head here. Seeing it brought back terrible memories. It reminded him of the horrors Luthor had put him through, locked in a dungeon, and weakened to the point of death by a piece of Kryptonite. If Metallo had not taken that piece of Kryptonite to save his own life, Superman would have died there in that dungeon. How could his former best friend become that twisted?

He walked up to the crystal podium, which recognized his presence by dimming the lights inside the Fortress. Appearing on a platform on the far end of the Fortress was a holographic image of his Kryptonian father, Jor-El. "Hello, my son. If you have come seeking for information, all you must do is ask. What is it that I can help you with, Kal-El?"

"Father, I have been having strange visions lately. I have had them since I was young, but only now are they becoming more frequent. Are these visions from you?"

"No, my son. I have not been speaking to you in your dreams. Tell me about these… 'visions'."

"I see death and destruction as if that was Metropolis's future. I see a monster and an android with a strange symbol on his forehead. I also hear a voice from the shadows saying that I am going to die, and that the Earth would be purged."

"When you were a young man, I tested you by having you fight an image of an android. Tell me, is this the same android you have recently seen in your visions?"

"I believe it is the same android," Superman replied.

"Then, it is as I have feared. These visions do not come from me, but from Darkseid."

"The ruler of the planet Apokolips?"

"Yes. I have taught you about him and his ruthless crusade to conquer everything and everyone. He is aware of your survival, and by now, has located the planet Earth. The android you have seen is known as Brainiac."

"Was Braniac not a part of Krypton? A super computer of sorts?"

"He was. At the very end of our lives, I suspected treachery from this android. I suspect that he is ultimately responsible for Krypton's destruction. It would not surprise me if Darkseid had found a way to corrupt him, and turn him to be his servant. These visions that the dark lord is projecting into your mind may be his intentions."

"So Brainiac is on his way here to Earth?"

"Yes, if he has not arrived already. If you have been having these visions since you were young, then there can be no doubt that Darkseid has set his sights on Earth. He may be sending Brainiac to be his herald. There are other signs that you must be aware of. His influences should be able to be clearly felt in some aspects of your world."

A sudden realization dawned on him. It all made perfect sense now. "Crime is on a rise in Metropolis, the city where I reside. A gang of young kids are walking around with weapons beyond any technology that this planet is capable of."

"Darkseid has then already made contacts on your world. This technology is being given to these young humans; this strategy is not new. He deceives the members of the underworld, offering them wealth and power, and as a show of good faith, hands them the technology to acquire it. In the end, however, they will die just like everyone else."

"Why bother with this deception at all, then?"

"Darkseid thrives on evil and corruption; he feeds off it. He has an obsessive disbelief in life. He believes that life is so weak that it has to bow before death. In your world, there is the pseudo-Christian belief in the existence of a heaven and a hell in the afterlife. If that is true, than Darkseid would be Satan."

"I must stop this," Superman replied angrily. "I will not let Darkseid harm this planet."

"The powers of that Earth's yellow sun will serve you well, but I warn you, my son, do not underestimate him. When it comes to intelligence, there is none greater than his. I fear that he may also be stronger than you by now. Your confrontation with Brainiac will serve as a test for you, but make no mistake; he has already learned everything he needs to know about you. Do not take the dark lord lightly."

* * *

><p>"Hi!" Clark said to every single person he passed as he made his way to his desk. His parents had always instilled into him the importance of being courteous, but sometimes he tended to go overboard.<p>

With a suitcase in one hand and a cup of hot coffee in the other, he was nearing his desk when another reporter bumped into him, causing him to spill his coffee all over his shirt. The man was Steve Novak, and he often got kicks by playing practical jokes on Clark. "Oops, sorry about that Kent," he laughed. "I hope that wasn't too hot for you to handle."

"Of course not," Clark replied dryly. "I didn't like this shirt, anyway."

Clark continued on to his desk. When he reached it, he set down his empty cup and briefcase. Looking over to the desk next to his, he saw the woman that he had a crush on: Lois Lane.

She was a very strong willed woman, who was the best at what she did. Her aggression and beauty made for a very lethal combination. There was not a man who did not dream about dating her, but all of them were too intimidated by her attitude. Heck, she even intimidated him. She was the daughter of a military general, and perhaps she would have done just as well being in the military if that was what she had wanted to do with her life.

Lois was striking up a conversation with a young girl at her desk. When Lois noticed Clark, she turned to face him, escorting the young girl up to him. "Hey Clark, I want to introduce you to my baby sister, Lucy!"

"Nice to meet you, Lucy!" Clark shook her hand and then noticed that she was looking at the coffee stain on his shirt. "Oh, I had a little accident with my coffee this morning."

"Oh, Clark, you can be such a klutz sometimes," Lois said, shaking her head. "She's come to visit before she heads off to college."

"Really? What are going to study?"

"I'm going for my Bachelor's degree in political science," Lucy replied curtly, with an air of confidence very much like her sister.

"Somehow, that seems very fitting," Clark remarked with a smile.

"Hey, Mr. Kent, I need to ask you something. I-" Jimmy came strolling along in his typical, youthful manner when he saw Lucy standing there. Everything that was on his mind coming into work this morning had evaporated.

There was a moment of awkward silence until Lois jumped in. "Jimmy, this is my younger sister, Lucy," Lois said, hoping to help the boy save what little dignity he may have left.

"Hi!" was the only word he could come up with to say. It was as if he had forgotten how to function.

"I take it that you're a photographer?" Lucy grinned, looking at the camera that was hanging by a strap around his neck.

"Yeah."

"Jimmy here has gotten some very impressive photos of Superman published. He's probably the best photographer we have," Clark added, but leaving out the fact that he was the only full-time photographer on the Daily Planet's payroll.

"That's interesting," she replied, showing no signs of whether or not she meant that sarcastically, or if she was really interested.

"Jimmy, why don't you show Lucy around," Lois replied. "Clark and I have to get ready for a meeting with the boss."

Jimmy's eyes lit up with excitement. "Sure!"

"We're still on for dinner tonight, right, Sis?"

"I promise, no working late tonight; I promise!" she assured her.

The two teens walked away as Jimmy showed Lucy around the office. Lois sighed. "I feel bad that she has to be stuck here with me instead of enjoying herself in the city."

Clark nodded. The Intergang had such a hold of this city that martial law had to be put into effect. The police also had posted a recommendation that no one be alone while walking through the city. Crime had never been so out of control that such drastic actions had to be taken. "Speaking of which, did you find out anything about yesterday's events?"

"Of course I did," she replied curtly. "I discovered that while Superman was busy with a group of those kids, their actual target was the police headquarters."

"You're joking!" He knew that the Intergang was not afraid of the authorities, but to attack a police headquarters was beyond crazy.

"I wish I was. They ravaged the evidence cage. The Intergang is clearly looking for something in particular. Whatever it is, they are risking a lot to get their hands on it."

She was right; the Intergang had taken their crime to a whole new level. They were no longer doing crime for the sake of terrorizing the people; they had a distinct agenda. He was going to have to keep that in mind the next time he encountered them, especially when he knew they were carrying weapons from Apokolips.

"Kent, Lane, come with me to my office," Perry White, the executive editor of the Daily Planet said stopping at their desks.

"Sure thing, sir," Clark responded on behalf of himself and Lois. She was not raised with the same level of courtesy has he had been.

The two reporters followed the hefty, aging man, who had only recently gone a diet due to the recommendation of his doctor. Being forced to lay off red meat, he had become more irritable as of late.

"You two are my best reporters, so I figured that I would give you a heads up. There is a strong possibility that the Daily Planet is going to be bought by Lexcorp."

"Lexcorp!" Lois exclaimed, "They had gone bankrupt ever since Lex was discovered to be responsible for Bizarro and Metallo. How can they afford to buy the Planet?"

"I'm as shocked about this as you are, but I have the new CEO of Lexcorp, standing in my office, wanting to see my best reporters."

"Whoever he is, he sure ain't from around here. Who in Metropolis doesn't know that I'm the best reporter here?"

"The new CEO is not a 'he'," Perry replied as they reached his office.

They walked into the room to see a business woman with dark red hair standing at the desk. When she turned around to face them, Clark lost his composure. She was the last person he had ever expected to see again.

"Kent, Lane, this is the new CEO of Lexcorp: Miss Lana Lang."


	7. Invasion

**Chapter 7: Invasion**

Seeing Lana again brought back a lot of memories. Clark had all but assumed that he would never see her again. They were a hot item back in junior high and high school. He had been certain that they were going to spend the rest of their lives together, but all of that changed when his destiny took him in another direction. He was sent to learn about who he was, and what he was to become. Unfortunately, it was going to be a life without her. So he had written a note and left it on the front porch of her house. He did not have the nerve to end the relationship in person, and he regretted it even to this day.

To him, their relationship had only ended a half year ago. Shortly after leaving the note on her front porch, he had created the Fortress of Solitude, and was in a suspended animation-like state for many years. Those years of training felt like a day. Seeing her ten years older was almost startling to him. Even more shocking was how he still felt about her.

"Clark?" Lana's reaction to seeing him again appeared to be similar to his seeing her.

"Am I missing something here?" Lois interrupted the awkward silence.

"You two know each other?" Perry asked.

"You could say that," Lana said coldly, narrowing her eyes towards Clark.

"We used to date back at Smallville High," Clark replied, pushing his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose.

"So, you do remember me. I have to admit, I'm surprised," Lana said snidely.

"Awkward," Lois commented out loud.

"I just remembered that I have very important meeting with General Lane. If you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave." Lana walked between Clark and Lois to make her way for the exit.

Clark could feel the coldness about her presence as she walked past him. He could not allow it to end this way. If he did not take this opportunity to make things right, then he may never get another one. "Lana, wait!"

Lois watched as Clark had run off after his old flame. A very strange feeling hit her in the pit of her stomach. For some odd reason, she really did not like Lana Lang. Part of it was that she was now the CEO of the vile Lexcorp Corporation, but there was something more to it. The fact that she no longer had his full attention was very unsettling to her. Why she felt like she had to have his attention on her was something she could not explain.

"Hey Lois!" Lucy's voice interrupted her thoughts. "I really hope you don't mind, but can we postpone our dinner together until tomorrow? I've got a date tonight."

"What? With who? Jimmy?"

"Sure, why not?" Lucy smiled. "He's kinda' cute—whenever he's able to formulate an entire sentence."

* * *

><p>"Lana, hold on!" Clark rushed to catch up to Lana, who had tried to pick up the pace to avoid him. As he sped up his pace to match her's, he tripped over his own feet and nearly fell flat on his face.<p>

"Perhaps you should get rid of those ridiculous glasses. Lex is gone, so you don't really need them anymore, now do you?"

When they had started dating, Clark had told her that he started wearing these fake glasses to show emotional support to Lex who was being ruthlessly bullied by John Corben and his friends. Even after Lex had been taken out of public school, wearing them had become so natural, that he never really thought about not wearing them.

"Actually, these glasses are real now. Without them, I'm almost blind as a bat."

"Well, I must've been blind to, actually, think that we could _ever_ have a life together. Boy, was I stupid."

He had always feared that she had taken their sudden break-up hard, and it appeared that his fears were right on the money. Apparently, time had done nothing to heal her wound. He was determined to settle their differences and earn her forgiveness. "I'm sorry about the note and the way things ended between us. I never meant to hurt you."

"But you did hurt me, Clark!" She turned to face him with a bitter look on her face. "Everything was beautiful between us; we had something so special, that no one in school could have comprehended it. You threw it all away! You left me a stupid little note and disappeared from the face of the earth, with no way to contact you, or to know where you were. For all I knew, you could have run off and joined a monastery. You gave me no opportunity to even fight to keep what we had alive, and that's what hurt me the most. You thought so little about what we had, that you thought you could just pick up and leave without saying goodbye, or explain to me why you had to leave. Hell, even with all the resources of Lexcorp, I still don't know where you've been the past ten years!"

"I know," Clark replied solemnly. "My life has been rather—complex."

"How complex could your life actually be? You're a lousy newspaper reporter!" she snapped.

"Lana, I wish I could give you the answers that you desire and deserve. I had no intentions of leaving you the way I did. For whatever is means to you, I've never taken what we had for granted." Clark turned and made his way back towards his desk.

Lana watched him walk away and found herself biting her lip. It was a nervous habit that she had always had. She had no idea that she still carried all that resentment towards him. She remembered finding the note on the front porch after finishing dinner with her parents. Her heart had been so torn, that she cried for days. At some point down the line, that sorrow had turned to anger.

Her initial reaction when he first saw Clark here at the Planet was that very same anger. After his apology, she found it hard to hold on to that anger. Yes, his apology felt rather empty, but for some reason, she still found it difficult to hold on to that rage. Could it be that she still loved him, deep down, inside? Lana shrugged that thought off, and made a quick exit from this tower.

* * *

><p>Smallville was a small town in Kansas, which had become popular when a freak meteor storm struck the town thirty years ago. The damage that the meteorites had caused had all been repaired, but that did not stop a few tourists from driving through in the hope of seeing something significant. In a way, it had become another Roswell, New Mexico.<p>

Martha Kent would never forget that day; it was the day Clark came into her life. She remembered it as if it was only yesterday. She and her late husband, Jonathon, had just gotten the report that she was never going to be able to give birth to a baby. That report had devastated her to her core. Her mourning had been cut short by an act of God. Clark had come to them in that meteor shower and their life had never been the same again.

They had never expected this young, strange boy was sent here with a specific purpose. Never in their wildest dreams did they ever think he would grow up to be Earth's greatest hero. Jonathon would have been so proud to see what his son had become.

Martha was sitting on the rocking chair out on the front porch. Relaxing on a pleasantly warm morning with nothing pressing that needed to be done, she enjoyed the morning by listening to the radio. She loved listening to the news to see if her son had been up to anything. They radio station was going through their weather report when she noticed a fireball falling from the sky. The fireball landed well beyond her property, somewhere near town. "My goodness, what was that?"

* * *

><p>Flaming meteorites filled the morning sky over the small town. People who had been conversing outside ran for cover as fire rained down from the sky. It was like hell raining on earth, as balls of fire began to cause whatever damage it could. Several crashed through roofs or windows to set shops on fire. Another one nearly hit a pick-up truck, causing it to roll over onto its right side.<p>

There was no safe place to hide, as fire ravaged through the strip mall and throughout Smallville. Among all the falling meteorites was one that was larger than the rest. This one was more controlled in its descent as it made its way towards an open cornfield. The giant meteorite came crashing in the heart of field, well away from any activity, leaving a giant crater among the corn stalks.

Deeply embedded into the ground, a giant, perfectly smooth object laid in the scorched crater, steam rising from its surface. After an eerie minute of silence, a slice of the strange round object lowered like a hatch. The gears sighed, as it slowly descended onto the ground to reveal a set of steps.

From inside, Brainiac stood from his chair and commenced walking out of his cramped shuttle. He took his first steps onto this strange colorful planet. "So, this is Earth."

His shuttle chimed an announcement, and automatically activated the communication holographic projector. Standing in front of him was the life-sized, white, holographic image of the dark lord. His face remained cold and callused. "Have you arrived at the planet?"

"I have," Brainiac responded.

"Excellent. I have two jobs for you. First, I want you to destroy the so-called 'Man of Steel'. Second, I want you to do whatever is necessary to spread the violence of the Intergang to a much broader radius. They have become too complacent with Metropolis, and too focused on killing Superman. That privilege does not belong to them."

"It will be done, Lord Darkseid. I have already begun turning my shuttle into a device that will create a portal into the Phantom Zone. I will use it rescue General Zod from his prison."

"I do not like how much trust you have in this rogue Kryptonian," Darkseid said coldly. "He has failed you on Krypton; what makes you think he will not fail you again there on Earth?"

"He will serve as a mere distraction. It will allow for me to calculate Kal-El's strengths and weaknesses. Zod will keep his attention on himself while I prepare for your arrival."

As usual, Darkseid showed no emotion on his literal stone face. After a few seconds of thinking about it, he finally nodded his approval. "So be it, but he is to die after the son of Jor-El is destroyed. Not one Kryptonian is to be alive by my arrival. Is this understood?"

"Perfectly."


	8. Investigation

**Chapter 8:**

After taking another fork full of spaghetti, Lois looked at Clark as if she were trying to figure him out. She had been acting very peculiar ever since that morning. Clark could not figure out what she was thinking, but she definitely had something on her mind. "I don't see it."

"You don't see what?"

"You and that woman. I mean, you're nice and everything, but she's way out of your league."

"You mean Lana? It's good to know that you have my best interest at heart," Clark said dryly, and then took a bite from his slice of pizza. She had a knack for being brutally honest. It was hard to get used to at first, but over the months, he had grown accustomed to it.

"Now don't get all sensitive on me, Smallville. She seems to be a business woman and you—well, you come from somewhere where cow tipping is considered hip."

"Lois, we both grew up in Smallville."

"You grew up milking cows and feeding chickens. Somehow I get the feeling that the same can't be said about Miss CEO."

Clark took another bite of his pizza, determined not to let Lois to get to him. "Why, Lois Lane, you're not jealous, are you?"

That playful accusation caused her to become defensive. "Jealous? Don't make me laugh. I'm just looking out for you. Without me, who knows what kind of trouble you'd find yourself in."

Clark was about to respond when he felt his Blackberry vibrate in his chest pocket. He reached for the phone and saw that his mother's name was displayed on the screen. "Hold that thought." He pressed the button with the image of a green phone. "Hello, mother."

"I'm always impressed when you know that it's me, even before I say a word."

"I've told you before, cell phones have caller ID as standard technology." His parents had never been very big on modern technology. Clark was only recently able to finally convince his mother to give up her rotary phone and upgrade to a standard dial-up phone.

"I just find it amazing what technology can do, that's all."

"Is there something I can help you with, Mom?"

His mother's tone quickly became more serious. "I think it's important for you to know that Smallville was just hit with a meteorite shower."

"Really? Was anyone hurt?"

"I don't think so, but there is a lot of damage. Clark, I can't help but feel a similarity between this incident and the one that brought you here."

Clark was thinking the same thing. The fact that it happened once again in Smallville could not be a coincidence. The first thing that came to his mind, when he heard the word "meteorite", was "Brainiac". Jor-El had warned him that Brainiac was likely on his way to Earth to find him. His mother did not know any of this, and he was not about to tell her, either. He may be the man of steel, but she was still a typical mother, who was always concerned about his safety. "I think you're right; I'd better come over and check things out for myself."

"If you do, you better make some time to visit me. It's been months since your last visit."

"I'll do what I can, Mom. Bye, now." Clark hung up the phone to find Lois grinning at him.

"I see that you still have the Blackberry that I gave you." Like his mother, Lois was not too fond of new technology; she typed up all her stories using an electric typewriter. When they first met, she refused to carry any cell phone, so she gave him her unopened business Blackberry. Recently, she decided to buy the most basic of cell phones for emergency uses. The few times she used her phone, she quickly became impatient with the small number-buttons. Clark had tried to get her into using a Bluetooth earpiece; with that she could use vocal commands to use her cell phone, but she refused to consider it.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to cut our lunch short," Clark said, standing up from the table. "Smallville was hit with a freak meteorite shower. I have to see if everything is alright at home."

"Oh, ok! You better go, then. I'll pick up the tab this time, but you owe me, Smallville."

Clark smiled as he turned and made for the door. Lois remained seated until Clark was out of the restaurant when she called the waitress over for the check. If he thought she was just going to stay here at Metropolis while a major story like this passed her by, he had another thing coming. He was going to Smallville for personal reasons, and that was understandable, but someone needed to cover the story for the Daily Planet, and why not her?

* * *

><p>The first stop for Superman was his fortress. He did not want to go to into Smallville and be taken by surprise. If Brainiac had finally set foot on Earth, his fortress would know about it. With the funding and help of a wealthy friend in Gotham, he was able to create a super computer unlike anything this planet had ever seen. He had intertwined his Kryptonian technology with this computer to further enhance its capabilities.<p>

One of the many uses of this super computer was to locate alien materials. He used it to help find every last trace of Kryptonite left on the planet. It took him about a month to collect it all and properly dispose of it, but it was worth the hard work; he did not have to worry about any of it falling into the wrong hands.

Swooping through a secret entrance near the top of the fortress, he landed onto a crystal platform. His supercomputer came to life and a green light scanned over his body. Once the computer had recognized him, it finished its boot up cycle. A keyboard made of nothing but white light appeared in midair, directly in front of him, its keys made up of Kryptonian symbols.

He placed his fingers over the keys of light and began typing, and issued his computer to do a scan for alien technology in Smallville. The giant ninety inch screen began to flicker Kryptonian symbols. It did not take long until his computer reported to him that there were no signs of anything Kryptonian in Smallville.

Despite the results of the search, he still had a lingering doubt that he could not shake. He knew Brainiac was coming, or was already here. For his home town to be hit with meteorites twice, it had to be the unluckiest small town in the world. He knew full well that this was no coincidence; it was a sign of what could very be the coming of the apocalypse. It was a fate that he was determined to stop.

* * *

><p>Even with only a brief overhead view of the town, Lois was taken aback. From how Clark described what happened, she did not imagine the damage to be so bad. The destruction could be closely compared to that done by a tornado.<p>

"Wow, I thought you were joking when you told me about the meteorite shower," Jimmy said, itching to get out of the helicopter and take some photos.

"This is unreal!" Lucy exclaimed. She had no choice but to go with her older sister and Jimmy to Smallville. She was beginning to get agitated with these martial law restrictions that Metropolis was under; it felt like she was in prison. This unplanned trip to Smallville, however, was turning out to be a welcomed distraction. "It's like right out of a disaster movie."

Lois motioned to the pilot to get them down to the ground. "I want to get some interviews with a few of the locals. Jimmy, get some pictures and we'll be back in plenty of time for you two to go on your date." Lucy and Jimmy looked at each other for a brief second before Lucy had to look away to hide her blushing face.

* * *

><p>Superman raced across the planet at maximum speed. He crossed oceans, mountains, forests, and planes before he finally arrived at Smallville, Kentucky. Once he reached Kentucky, he slowed down tremendously to allow himself the time to visually search for any space craft that might have fallen during the meteorite storm.<p>

He expected to find something Kryptonian among all the chaos and destruction. There could be no doubt that this happened because of him. Either Brainiac had come or the dark lord himself was sending him a message. He was going to be prepared for the worst, whatever the case may be.

The damage was extensive, but not insurmountably disastrous. Some farms would have a bad season this year, but other than that, all this town would need was a half-year to rebuild. From the scorch marks, he could see no apparent patterns to the damage to suggest anything more than pure randomness. None of this even remotely implied that Brainiac was here on earth. He continued his thorough search of his home town, determined to find something that might give him an advance notice of Brainiac's arrival.

* * *

><p>Lois had already gotten several interviews from eyewitnesses of the event. The shock was still very apparent in everyone she talked to. Lucy was wandering around the town, looking at the scorch marks left by the meteorites, and taking pictures with her cell phone camera. Jimmy was busy getting some professional pictures, which was sure to blow the chief away. As they kept busy, all of the other media outlets were arriving and camping out throughout Smallville to report on this catastrophe.<p>

As she finished taking notes for her most recent interview, something in the corner of her eye grabbed her attention. She looked up to see Superman slowly flying over the town. "Hey look, it's Superman!" Jimmy exclaimed, pointing up at him in the sky. "He must have had a local emergency to take care of."

"I'm not so sure," Lois replied. "It looks like he's searching for something?"

"What do you suppose he's searching for?"

Lois had come to know Superman pretty well over the last six months, despite his constant refusal to tell her his secret identity. She was confident that she knew him well enough to know when something big was going on with him. From the look on his face, she knew that he was concerned about something. If Superman himself was concerned about a threat, then what should the rest of the world think? "I don't know, Jimmy, but something tells me that it's something big."

* * *

><p>Brainiac's calculations once again proved to be perfect. There was no doubt that Superman had tried to search for him by searching for Kryptonian technology. Brainiac had to assume that son of Jor-El would have Kryptonian technology at his disposal, and in anticipation of this, he hid his shuttle by activating a new stealth system.<p>

Knowing that Kal-El would personally come and search the devastation, Brainiac had taken his shuttle and hidden it well into the heart of a forest. This would provide him ample shelter until he was able to finish building the portal to the Phantom Zone. Looking up through the leaves of the trees, he caught a brief glimpse of Superman flying overhead, unaware of the dangers that this forest had in store for him. "Not yet, son of Jor-El. Your days are numbered."


	9. Luthorcorp's New Life

**Chapter 9: Luthorcorp s New Hope**

Seeing Clark again was something Lana had not prepared for. It never crossed her wildest imagination that she would ever see him again. She had been so unnerved by the encounter that she found it difficult to focus at the task at hand. She was moments away from pitching a proposal that could save Lexcorp from bankruptcy. The process had already been started to rename the company back to its original name of Luthorcorp. She hoped that General Lane would see it as the first step of disposing of Lex Luthor's legacy that stained this corporation. He was the one whom she was going to have to convince that this company was worth saving.

Another thing she hoped would win him over was this new office. Despite the repairs made to the top floor office, which Lex had used as his own, she refused to set foot on that level. The stench of Lex's evil works could never fully be cleansed away from the office. Luckily, she discovered another office a few floors down, one that was much more high-tech.

This new high-tech extravaganza was far greater than the main office; Lana had wondered why Lex had not made this his main office. The design of the room—and the technology in it—was meant to intimidate anyone who visited it; it was right up Lex Luthor's alley.

The desk was what first attracted Lana out to this office. It was a computer desk with a built-in computer and a giant HD monitor underneath the glass desktop. It was the most elegant, yet powerful desk she had ever seen. She never imagined she would ever obtain a position of this magnitude to warrant such a desk and office.

She remembered when she was approached by Lex for a job at the Smallville office. After graduating college, Lex approached her with a job offer that she couldn't refuse. She knew that he used to be good friends with Clark, but he pursued her so aggressively that she had to accept his offer. To make up for the ridiculous pay she was getting, she dedicated her life to her job. Even she had to be surprised at how fast she went up in ranks. For whatever reasons he had, Lex promoted her well beyond her years; until now, she was probably the youngest CEO in America. What had she done to earn such favor?

She was heartbroken to hear of all the evil he had done when he had died. On the day of his death, she had begun to question her actual ability. Was she really as good as Lex made her think she was, or was she part of some evil scheme? She was ready to quit her job until she was told that she was elected to be the new CEO of Lexcorp. It was a unanimous vote by the board of directors, which rekindled the confidence in her ability. She took the job and moved here to Metropolis to accept her position.

She could only hope the board of directors would continue to find favor with her efforts to change this corporation back to its former glory. This deal with General Lane would do just that, with a side benefit of washing this corporation of more of Lex's residue. As she waited for the general's arrival, she replayed the holographic recording that she had discovered the moment she had first laid hands on this desk.

A life-size, life-like image of Lex Luthor appeared on the Lexcorp logo on the floor. The image was so real that it looked like Lex Luthor was actually standing before her. "Congratulations, Lana Lang. I have always known that your talents would take you farther than you could've ever dreamed. Now, in my unfortunate demise, you have become the new CEO of the corporation that my father had built from the ground up. I had no doubt that the board of directors would choose you to succeed me.

"I also knew you would find this secret office, and make it your own. Who could resist such an elegant and beautiful office as this one? It will help empower you in front of your competitors and your future partners.

"I am every bit confident that you will take this corporation to new heights; I expect nothing less. Oh, and one last thing; I WILL have my eyes on you. Good luck in your endeavors."

The image of Lex Luthor digitally evaporated before her eyes. When she first saw that video, she could not help but feel suspicious. How come Lex had technology light years beyond the rest of the world, and wouldn't share it? That thought gave her the idea to go through the databases of all of Luthor's computers to see what else he had kept to himself. With the help of some top notch programmers and IT database developers, she was able to uncover a few other discoveries that had not made the light of day. The rest was heavily encrypted, and was proving to be very challenging even to the best programmers in the world.

One of the discoveries was what gave her the idea of a way to rescue this corporation. If General Lane was willing to give her a chance and hear her out, this could easily do just that.

She was also able to uncover some other disturbing things, none which really had any relevance to this corporation. She stumbled upon an archive of dozens of files of security footage; some of it dated all the way back to the days of Lionel Luthor, Lex's father. There was one file in particular that unnerved her. It was the only thing that gave her the permission, from herself, to feel sorry for Lex. She found the footage file, and used her index finger to tap on the file on the screen. The video footage appeared on the monitor underneath the glass desktop.

* * *

><p>Lionel threw his son into his office with such force, that the young Lex Luthor fell to his knees. His face was drenched in tears. His face was full of terror. "Dad, I'm sorry!" he pleaded.<p>

"Not as sorry as you're about to be," Lionel said in his calm, scratchy voice. "Tell me again, what happened that forced me to skip out of a very important business deal to drag your sorry ass out of the principal's office?"

"I—I—I got in a fight."

"Yes, yes, some bully pushed your around and you gave him a black eye. That's all fine and good, but I'm more interested in what happened after that." Lionel waved a finger in the air.

"Mrs. Jacob's told me—to say I'm sorry, and I did."

"And that's where you erred, my son." Lionel slapped Lex with such force, that it left a hand print across the boy's friend. "A Luthor never apologizes—for anything—to anyone."

Lionel slapped his son again. "You did right to punch this kid in the face. You are a Luthor, after all. It's time for you to grow-up and stop being a weak, pathetic excuse of a human being. When you act weak, you make me look weak as well, and we can't have that, now can we?" Lionel delivered another painful slap across the face, which busted open his son's lip.

"For the slightest moment, you were a true Luthor, but then you allowed yourself to be influenced by the weak minded fool of a teacher."

"But—but, I like Mrs. Jacobs," Lex wept. "She—she's my favorite teacher."

"Correction, she WAS your favorite teacher," Lionel snapped, as he looked towards his butler, who had come into the room. "Please escort my son out of my office."

"Yes, Mr. Luthor." The butler gently prodded the weeping and bruised boy out of Lionel's office as Lionel sat behind his desk.  
>With a push of a button, he activated his intercom. "Janice, get me the phone number of my son's school. I want Mrs. Jones fired from her job."<p>

"Sir, you would need to talk to the teacher's union."

"Then, find me their number. I have the power to bring heaven or hell down on them; the choice is theirs."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

><p>Lana paused the video. Every time she watched it, it made her sick to her stomach. Lionel Luthor was lower than scum. No man should treat their son like that, and the things he taught his son were beyond horrible. It was no wonder Lex Luthor had become so twisted. She was not making excuses for the man, but it did help her understand him a little more.<p>

The steel door at the far end of the office slid open, quickly interrupting her thoughts. She promptly cleared the video from the screen as General Samuel Lane marched towards her desk. This man was military, through and through. He lived, breathed, and ate the military. He loved his country, and would do anything to protect it. "I like what you've done with the place, though I am not thrilled with the idea of being here right now."

"I'm glad that you've decided to hear me out," Lana replied, walking around her desk to shake the general's hand. "I think you will find me completely different from Lex Luthor."

"No offence, Miss Lang, but I was rather hoping to see this corporation go belly up. I don't take kindly to being made to look like a fool."

"Believe me, when I say that I understand where you're coming from," she replied. "I think the crimes Lex Luthor committed were beyond forgivable. That is why I hope to take this corporation to a more honorable destination."

"I hope, very much, that you are sincere in your goals, but I don't see what this has to do with me. After everything your predecessor did, there is no way the U.S. Government will have anything to do with Lexcorp."

"Actually, we are returning to our original name: Luthorcorp. Care to take a seat?" Lana pointed to the chairs in front of her desk.

"Let's just keep this short and get right to the point, shall we? I am quite busy."

"Very well, General. Yes, it's true, I brought you here to discuss the possibility of a mutual agreement."

General Lane shook his head, his patience quickly wearing thin. "I'm not accustomed to repeating myself, Miss Lang. The government cannot afford to do business with your corporation any longer."

"With what I'm offering you, the government cannot NOT afford this partnership. Our country's, and even our planet's, safety may depend upon this. Have you ever thought about where Superman came from?"

"I've read my daughter's article, Miss Lang. Superman claims to be from a planet called Krypton." General Land refused to show it, but this topic about Superman had made him curious about this offer of hers.

This was an issue that had been seriously troubling him ever since the "hero" arrived. An alien from another planet comes to Earth and begins to take it upon himself to be the world's savior. In his eyes, Superman was a loose cannon who had to have a leash on him. Who's to say that he did not have an ulterior motive behind his actions? In his point of view, the government needed some assurance that Superman would not become an enemy. The government needed some sort of control over his actions, so there was no threat of him accidentally starting an international incident. That was why he was trying to get congress to pass a bill that would require Superman to register with the U.S. government. He called it the Vigilante Registration Act. So far, everyone had become too smitten with this new "savior" to even consider this bill.

"Yes, yes, but do we really know what galaxy he's from? There's not one scientist in the world who can find where Krypton once was. Superman's presence confirms that there are other forms of life out there, and even if Superman is as honorable as he says he is, how about others like him? I seriously doubt that everyone has Superman's super code of ethics. If they came to our planet, with the same powers as Superman, do you have anything in your arsenal than can save us from such a threat?"

General Lane could not reply. He knew full well that there was no weapon at his disposal that can harm Superman, so they would not prevent a full-on invasion of hostile super aliens. He was deeply impressed with Lana Lang. She was strong, and she knew how to sell herself. Previously, he had thought that nothing she could say would ever change his mind about considering renewing the relationship with Lexcorp. Now, she had him giving it a very good thought. "And your point is?"

"Lex, although he turned out to be a vile sniper, he was no fool. He discovered the one thing that can defeat Superman, or even kill him: Kryptonite."

"Kryptonite? I never heard of it."

"From what our scientists are able to understand, Kryptonite are pieces from his home world. It appears that Lex had somehow calculated that pieces of his home world weaken him to the point of death. That was why he put one these meteorites into the heart of Metallo. What made Metallo strong was the one thing that could kill Superman."

"It's beginning to sound like you have some issues with the Man of Steel, yourself," General Lane commented.

"Not at all. He's done Metropolis and the world some real good, but let's face it: what happens if he turns on us, or something else out there comes to Earth more powerful than him? Our country has to be ready for such a scenario."

"You have my full attention, Miss Lane," the general said. "I am in full agreement with you so far."

"Since becoming the new CEO of Lexcorp, I have found that Lex has several giant stockpiles of various colors of Kryptonite. I also discovered that before he died, he discovered a way of taking those stockpiles, blowing them up, and showering this entire planet with Kryptonite dust. Our scientists believe that it will not harm people, animals, and our food and water supplies, but it will kill anything Kryptonian that steps foot onto our planet. If Superman is defeated, or turns bad, all we have to do is blow up these stockpiles, and this planet would forever be uninhabitable to any aliens from Superman's home galaxy."

General Lane showed his first smile since entering this building. This was something beyond anything he could have hoped for. "I am very, very impressed, Miss Lang. So what is it we're talking about? If I am able to secure enough funds to save Lexcorp from bankruptcy, you will give us these stockpiles of Kryptonite?"

"More than that," Lana smiled. "We will provide you with any help you need to implement this planetary fail safe weapon."

He loved this idea. The thought of having a weapon that can neutralize any alien threat to the United States excited him like a child waking up on Christmas morning. This was an offer that was too good to pass up on. "I like it, but I don't have the authority to commit to this partnership yet. I will have to take this up with the director of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Defense, but I can promise you that I still have some very strong pull with these two men. I think it's safe to say that you can consider Lexcorp to be back in the black."


	10. Intergang's Weapon

**Chapter 10: Intergang s Weapon**

This was the worst possible time to be unemployed. Finding a job in these hard, economic times was a struggle, at best; it also did not help if your former employer was Lex Luthor. Mercy Graves had it all under the employment of Lexcorp. Lex Luthor was an unrealized genius before his time, and did not deserve the ending fate had given him. Because of Superman, Luthor was dead, and now she was on the verge of becoming homeless. This 'hero' took away the man whom she loved.

Yes, Lex never actually reciprocated her love for him, but given more time, she was sure that he would have. It was the story of her life; she falls for a man with power, and she ends up losing him due to some unforeseen circumstances. Life was often cruel towards her, but she was not the type to complain about it. She was willing to adjust to whatever life had to throw at her, but Superman was a different story all together. There was something about him that filled her with hate.

How dare this so called 'hero' steal the genius mind of Lex Luthor away from the world. The alien took away a better future for Earth, all in his own name. Superman wanted to hog the glory for himself, and make himself ruler of the planet. He had to be stopped. Somewhere out there, there had to be another powerful man who would step up to him. She was determined to be there and supporting this new 'savior' when he brought Superman to his knees. After all, she knew how to defeat the Man of Steel, but she just needed to find the one to do it.

* * *

><p>Yesterday's attemptto retrieve the first piece of the 'weapon' turned out to be a dismal failure. It appeared the government was taken better precautionary measures than anyone had thought. It appears that they were disguising the whereabouts of the first piece of the weapon by feeding several false scenarios, and the Intergang had followed the wrong one.<p>

The punk kids could not care less if the mission was a failure or not. They were more interested in causing chaos and anarchy. They were the perfect cover up for the underground criminal empire that was slowing coming to power underneath Metropolis. Metropolis had no idea that a crime syndicate had taken root into the heart of Metropolis; they were too focused on trying to stop the uprising of rebelling teenagers. It was a masterfully crafted plan, yet some members in the crime syndicate were not happy about it. They were only going along with the idea because of the high-tech weapons that their leader, Bruno Mannheim, could get them. Little did Bruno know, that as soon as he outlived his usefulness, he would end up at the bottom of a lake somewhere.

Another meeting had been called, but none of the crime lords were excited about it. They all knew that this was about another attempt at finding this 'weapon' , but they were all growing tired of spending their resources and money in another fool's hardy quest. What weapon was Bruno searching for, that was so important? Instead of growing this crime syndicate to become as powerful as the one in Gotham, they were searching for some weapon that none of them knew about. Time was of an essence in growing this little crime syndicate; Superman could be fooled for only so long.

When Bruno entered the room, there were a lot of displeased looks on their faced. He knew the opinions of his fellow crime lords, and he hoped that this meeting will put their fears to rest. "Greeting's gentlemen, I won't take much of your time."

"You betta' not!"An overweight man, who went by the name of Chains, said while taking a puff of his cigarettes. "Enough of my time's been wasted as is."

"Okay, granted, our search for the first piece of the weapon has not panned out, but all of that has changed. I know for certain, where the first piece is, and we're about to make a bold move to retrieve it."

An oriental woman, who appeared more like an accountant and not a crime Lord, made her objection noted in her broken English. "You say that before, and we end up with nothing."

"This time I guarantee you that I've found it. I'm so confident, that I will be leading several of my own men to acquire it while our kids provide another distraction." Bruno replied with a grin on his face. He rubbed his black mustache with his right thumb and index finger. There was no doubt that Bruno Mannheim was a criminal. He had the appearance of a fifties gangster, with an awkward looking maroon stripped business suit with a black button down shirt and a yellow tie. His black hair made no attempts to hide the gel that he used to keep less wavy. He also sported a gold chain around his neck, and some gold and silver rings on several of his fingers.

"Don't we have enough weapons as it is? What makes this one any different?"

"This weapon is meant to destroy Superman. Once he's gone, there will be no stopping us from taking the city!

"Gimme a break," Another member at the table laughed."Superman's virtually invincible. Nothing can kill him."

"That's where you're wrong. I know what everyone here is thinking, I'm no fool. You all hate hiding behind these punk kids, and want to begin your rules in your perspective sections of Metropolis. Cash is what you want, and lots of it. Well, with this weapon, all of this will be able to come to pass sooner rather than later, and without the threat of a superhero to swoop down and destroy your hard work. If there's even a remote chance of that, isn't that worth the extra work and wait?"

Everyone around the table looked at each other, and all came to an agreement through their eye. "Very well, but ya betta be right, this time!"Chains snarled, cracking his knuckles of his giant hands. Everyone who knew Chains knew that when he cracked his knuckles, that was his way of intimidating and threatening. The message could not be any clearer to Bruno. If he was wrong about the locationof the first piece to the weapon, then he was going to be a dead man.

* * *

><p>As promised, Lois had gotten Jimmy and Lucy back in time for their dinner date. Lucy barely had enough time to freshen up at Lois's apartment before Jimmy arrived. When he did arrive, he was the perfect gentlemen, almost from straight out of the old black-and-white movies. At first, she found it cute and refreshing in comparison to some other men she had dated. Soon, though, it was getting to be a little annoying.<p>

For dinner, they did not go anywhere fancy, nor was she expecting to do so. A local pizza shop was perfectly fine for her. She held no delusions that Jimmy should bewealthy at this young of an age. Truthfully speaking, she was not one for traditional dating rituals anyway. That was why his constant courteousness was slowly starting to grate on her nerves. Jimmy was a very sweet boy, and his boyish looks were very cute. There was enough there, howerver, for her to be willing to get over this one flaw.

They were enjoying a medium pepperoni pizza and some pleasant conversation. "So, is it true that my sister has a thing for Superman?"

Jimmy shrugged to buy himself some time to swallow the food that was in his mouth. "Myself and everyone at the Planet thinks there is, but you know you're sister; she won't admit it even if her life depended on it."

Lucy laughed. "Yea, she has more in common with our father than she cares to admit."

"So where do you stand? Lois and your father seem to be at extreme odds about Superman."

"Are you asking me whose side am I on?" Lucy was afraid he was going to ask her that. "I'm on both of their sides."

"Ah, gotcha," Jimmy smiled. He picked up on her cue that she was not going to go any deeper into that topic.

"It's not easy being the youngest child and trying to hold their relationship together. Both of them are heard headed and stubborn. I'm glad to be going off to college and getting away from it all. "

"I guess I can understand where you're coming from. I—" Jimmy was distracted by the commotion that was taking place at the front of the store.

"Is something wrong?" Lucy asked, not noticing the gathering of people going on behind her.

"Something's going on outside," Jimmy said standing up from the table. He fought his way to the window to take a look outside the front window. It was like a war zone outside with explosions, and people running for their lives. Parallel parked cards were on fire, street lamps were toppled, and chunks of debris were scattered everywhere.

A police officer came into their line of site, shooting their gun diagonally upward. From their angle, no one looking out the window could see who the officer was shooting at. After taking a couple shots, the office leaped out of sight as if he was jumping out-of-the-way of something. A sudden feeling swept over him that told him to do the same, and it appeared that everyone else standing at the window got the same feeling. Everyone scattered from the window just as an explosion outside caused the window to shatter into the pizzeria.

Jimmy could feel his medium-sized red hair wave as shards of glass sprayed past him. As he fell forward to the ground, he could only pray that no large shard of glass would stab him in the back of his neck or his back. After a deafening moment of silence, he was unsure if his hearing was impaired from the blast, or if there actually was moment of complete silence. He fought against the weight of other people who landed partially on top of him before Lucy had come to help him up. "Jimmy, are you alright?"

Before he had the chance to answer, two young men and one young woman, all with unnaturally colored hair and facial piercings entered the pizzeria; the glass cracked underneath their weight. "Bring one of them. That'll get the Supes here in a hurry!"

For whatever reason, all of their eyes were drawn right to Lucy.

* * *

><p>This was the most secure and hidden military base in the world. Few were privileged with the knowledge of its existence. The base was unassumingly located in Wyoming, a state no one would ever think of finding a tiny military hideout. The U.S. Government bought an entire multilayered apartment complex right in the heart of the city of Casper. No one would ever think that this apartment complex was a hidden military base.<p>

This base was brand new, and was designated for one purpose alone: to protect the contents in one of the most top of the line safes available. The contents of the safe were so dangerous, that the government created this small base, just to make sure that it stayed lost. On the outside, the apartment complex was nothing more than just that: an old, run down, rat infested building. On the inside, however, there were some of the most high-tech security features available to the U.S. Military. On top of that, just over a dozen soldiers were always hidden somewhere in the complex, and at least five guarding the safe itself. There could be no chance for Newton's law to play a factor.

Unfortunately, no one could imagine the capabilities and determination of the Intergang. The five military soldiers were stunned by a blinding, bright light that engulfed the entire room. When their eyes readjusted themselves, they found five adult men in business suits standing in the center of the room. All five officers prepped their automatic weapons, positioned themselves around the intruders, and pointed their weapons at them. "Hold it right there, or we'll shoot!" The captain of the group shouted.

Bruno smirked at the threat that was supposed to intimidate him. "Boys, deal with them!"

One of the men behind Bruno spun towards the closest Military officer and pointed a strange metal wand towards him. A streak of lightning fired from the wand, and hit the officer in the heart, killing him instantly.

"Fire!"

The four remaining military soldiers open fired, only to have their bullets bounce off a thin, green electrical shield surrounding each of them. The rest of Bruno's men whipped out their weapons and took out the four remaining military soldiers.

Upon the death of the last soldier, all the lights in the room turned on. "Good, I would have been disappointed if that was the extent of their security," Bruno laughed.

Panels of wood vanished on both walls, and sticking out of each empty space was a barrel of an automatic machine gun. There were ten machine guns pointing at them in total, and all ten unleashed all of their power at the intruders. Again, their shielding protected them from the guns, allowing two of Bruno's men to place a glowing device at the base of both walls. As soon as they were clear, the devices let out a giant explosion. Both walls were shattered, and all the men hiding behind them were killed instantly.

The security did not end there. Apparently, before one of the hidden soldiers was killed, they activated the next line of defense. There could be no more doubt that they had found what they were looking for. The room began to fill with gas. "Gas masks on," Bruno ordered, glad that he had anticipated the need for them.

All of his men deactivated their personal shields and raced to put on their gas masks. As his men did, Bruno could have sworn he heard a high pitch bleep. It was already getting difficult to see through the gas, but when the barely noticeable beeping continued, he knew that he had to look hard and fast around the room. He followed his ears to the far corner of the building when he could make out a round object with a timer on it. It was on ten and counting down. Bruno had to be impressed; the government was willing to kill before asking questions to keep the contents safe. It was too bad, that for all the security measures they were taking, they had not anticipated anyone having the alien technology that he had been able to acquire.

Bruno quickly pulled out a mechanical box from his jacket pocket and pointed it towards the bomb that was getting ready to explode. With the press of a button, a bright beam of light came out of the box and engulfed the bomb. After two seconds, he deactivated his device, and the beam of light vanished as quickly as it appeared. The bomb had vanished with the light.

"Where did you send it?" One of his men asked.

Bruno smiled as he looked back at him. "Call this my gift to Lieutenant Inspector Dan Turpin. That man has been a thorn in my side for a long time. Now, back to the matter at hand."

Bruno waved a puff of white gas from his masked face as he returned to the safe. Another one of his men had begun to investigate the safe, but the second his hand touched it, it sent out an electric shock so intense, that it sent him flying half way across the room, and leaving him temporarily paralyzed. "Idiot! After all of this, you really didn't think the safe would not be booby trapped?" Bruno growled angrily. "Get out of my way!"

Bruno calculated his standing position in front of the safe and then adjusted the settings on his boom tunnel controller. He pointed the end of the remote at the safe. "Nothing shall stop me from getting what I want."

He pressed the button, and a bright beam of light shone onto three-quarters of the door of the safe. After a few seconds, he turned the remote off, and the beam vanished. A large hole was left in the safe door; it was so big, that what remained of the door collapsed onto the floor in pieces. There, in the safe was the first piece of the treasure. He stepped closer to it and marveled at his new prize. "There it is. Isn't it a beauty?"

Inside the safe, was what looked like a headless android with a missing chest plate. The metal was showed some heavy dents as if it had gone through a massive battle. In the center of the chest was a glowing green rock, which he had learned was known as Kryptonite. "There it is gentlemen, Metallo!"


	11. General Zod Returns

**Chapter 11: General Zod Returns**

"Get your hands off me!" Lucy scowled as they grabbed her by the arms. She started to put up a fight until one of the punk kids put their high-tech weapon right up against her temple.

"How bout I blow your pretty lidda face off?"

Lucy knew they were serious and decided that it was not wise to resist them…yet. She obeyed them as they pushed outside into the war zone. "Back off, pigs, or we'll toast her!"

Turpin, who had responded to this latest Intergang attack with a large force of officers from the MPD and MSCU, was taking cover behind a mini-van that had been tipped onto its side . Sawyer, who was next to him, peeked around the edge of the vehicle and confirmed that they had a hostage. "Great, now they're into taking hostages. That's the last thing we need."

"Strange," Maggie replied. "This is strangely out of characteristic for a group of kids whose sole purpose is to cause chaos."

"Agenda or not, these punks are really getting on my nerves."

The three Intergang kids pushed Lucy further out, becoming bolder with each step. Jimmy watched from the Pizzeria, feeling helpless. He could not allow himself to stand here helplessly and just watch them use his date as a hostage. What kind of date would he be? "Excuse me," Jimmy said, pushing his way back through the crowd, into the Pizzeria.

It was like he was taken over by another man. He could almost watch himself from outside his body as he grabbed a wooden chair and quietly charged at the three Intergang kids from behind. It was the girl who saw Jimmy from the corner of her eye. "Watch it!"

The two boys pulled Lucy out of the way and the girl stepped aside to avoid the attack from Jimmy. In a lightning fast move, she was quickly able to disarm him. Jimmy was left standing there in shock, not sure what had just happened, or what she did to disarm him. Was it some form of weapon?

The next thing he knew, he had three high-tech weapons pointed at his face. "Bad move!"She grinned. That was when he knew he was about to die. His foolish rescue attempt of Lucy was only going to end with his own demise.

The girl was ready to put the heroic wannabe out of his misery when a hand came out of nowhere and pulled the weapon right out of her hand. She looked to her right to see Superman standing there in the process of crumpling her favorite weapon as if it was made out of paper. "That will be quite enough for one day, kids."

The two boys went to point their weapons towards their new target, only to find Superman no longer standing where he was, and the weapons that they had in their hands were now gone. They turned around to see Superman now standing behind them holding their weapons in his hands. "I will have to confiscate these, and I am afraid, you will not be getting these back after class."

The three punk kids could only laugh sardonically at the Man of Steel as they quickly reached for buttons on their mechanical wrist bands on their right wrists. "Keep 'em. Our job, here, is done." All three of them pressed their buttons and they instantly vanished in a bright white light.

Everyone there was left there standing in bewilderment. This was an unusual move by the Intergang. Instead of trying to cause more chaos, they decided to vanish and leave the fight. Turpin and Sawyer joined Superman as Jimmy and Lucy checked up on each other. "God dang it! Am I ever going to get one of those kids behind bars and get some answers outta them?" Turpin growled.

"I suspect that some answers will be coming shortly, Lieutenant," Superman commented.

"What makes you so certain?" Sawyer asked.

"Because it is obvious this round of chaos was meant for nothing more than to grab my attention. I have had my suspicions that there was more to this gang than just rebellious young men and women. I think what just happen proves that there are brains behind the operation. They have something else in mind other than to promote anarchy."

Both Turpin and Sawyer had began to wonder the same thing. There could be no doubt that they were about to get some kind news that something else that had happened while they were busy with this outbreak of violence here. That has been common place as of recent.

"Lieutenant!"One of Turpin's agents came running up to him with a cell phone up to his ear." We have a situation back at base. Your office just blew up."

"Damn those kids!"

* * *

><p>This day could not get any worse. General Lane did not want to believe the report when he first received it over the phone. Now that he was seeing the damage for himself, at what was supposed to be a top secret facility, he could only blame himself. He should have anticipated this when several of their fake facilities were destroyed.<p>

Superman was right about keeping the two pieces of Metallo separate, but even after all this, he still was not thrilled with him having the head in his possession. The thing that ate at General Lane was that he could not make the argument that he had no jurisdiction or authority to keep it. After all, it was still safe for the time being while his was gone. He hated being humbled, especially in front of Superman.

General Lane was walking through the carnage as he talked to his superior over the cell phone. "I have no explanation for what happened here. There is no way anyone could have gotten through all of our security features. Do I think Superman did this? I would say negative on that, sir; killing has not been one of his traits, yet. I think that whoever did steal Metallo's body is out to kill him."

General Lane listened as his superior gave him orders. "Affirmative, sir; I will return to Metropolis immediately." He deactivated his phone and looked over to his men who were investigating the carnage.

"Okay men, we're heading back to Metropolis. Odds are, that is where the body of Metallo wil be."

* * *

><p>Despite yesterday's chaos, Superman had decided that this demonstration at S.T.A.R lab should commence. Lois mind was still on Lucy's ordeal, so her heart was not into being there at that very moment. An agreement was an agreement, though, so Lois was there to report on Superman's and Professor Hamilton's demonstration of their collaborated invention.<p>

At the guess reception, she had picked up her visitor's badge that was waiting for her. From there, a security officer accompanied her to the elevator where together, they rode up to the top floor. During the trip up, she made sure her mascara was not running. When the elevator came to a stop and the door slid open, Superman was standing there with his normal warm smile and handsome blue eyes. "Hello, Lois. I hope you are ready for another big story for you to bring back to your boss."

"I supposed, but couldn't we have delayed this a few days or so. The Intergang is really keeping me busy as of late."

"I understand how you must feel. How has your sister been doing since yesterday?"

"She's a bit shaken up, but alive thanks to you," Lois replied.

"Good. I realize that this demonstration may seem ill-timed, but the Professor and I both agree that there is no better time to unveil our invention than now. After all, the people of Metropolis could use a bit of good news right about now to get their minds off of all the trouble in Metropolis.

"I never really thought about it that way," Lois admitted. "I am curious, however, how you manage to find the time to work with the professor on this project all while saving the day for countless of people around the world," Lois smirked.

Superman let out a soft chuckle. "I do have super speed."

The two of them walked into the heart of the laboratory. It had the true feeling of a scientific laboratory, or as Lois had always imagined one to be like. The room was lit up by the sun shining through the glass sky roof. There was so many large unfamiliar equipment, that she could not help but feel slightly intimidated and out of her comfort zone.

They found Professor Hamilton busy at work at one of the huge computer displays. The Professor was a very intelligent mind, but unlike most scientists, he was very down to earth and friendly. He was an African-American male of about sixty-five years in age. His white crimped hair made him very distinguished. He was one of the few men in the world who actually looked better in white hair. He had a white mustache and goatee to add to his handsome face. The one trait that he did share with all the other scientists was his workaholic personality. He was an eighty hour-a-week type of person who loved his work with a passion.

As they approached, he looked up at them. "Welcome, Miss Lane."

"So, I hear that you two have worked together on this project," Lois said, pulling out her pen and paper. "What exactly have you two been working on?"

"Something that will change the world forever," the professor replied. "A new way of processing solar energy."

"Solar energy?"

"That's right. Up to this point, our technology has afforded very little capability for solar energy to become a viable form of alternate energy. Thanks to Kryptonian technology, all that is about to change."

"Interesting,"Lois admitted. "How did you come up with this new hybrid technology?"

"Actually, it's all thanks to Superman," The professor replied, handing it over to him to continue.

"As you know, my super strength comes from the rays of the yellow sun. The reason that the sun gives me the strength and none of you is based on how the cells in my body assimilate the rays of the sun. They process the sun much differently than yours. After the Professor and I came to a full understanding how my body works, we applied that concept to this technology. With the help of technology from my home world, we were able to construct this large-scale generator that is compatible with this new science. What Earth's scientists have done, up to this point, was very good, but it was based on what they knew about the sun and how their bodies and their environment assimilated the suns ray. This new science is based on what my people know about the sun and how we assimilate it."

"This is a pretty big, generator," Lois commented, looking up at this generator which easily stood ten feet tall.

"This generator it set to power the entire city of Metropolis when the time comes," The professor replied. "Thanks to this new way of processing Solar Energy, this technology will be able to power cities, not to mention cars, air conditioners, and almost anything that uses electricity. I calculate that one day's worth of charging can power this city for one year. This generator can hold enough charge to power Metropolis for twenty-years if the sun was to cease to exist."

"So it's kind of like a super solar generator just like you're a 'super' man," Lois said with a grin, intentionally teasing Superman with the word play.

"In a matter of speaking, yes," Superman replied.

"Where are the solar panels located?" Lois asked.

"On the outskirts of the city," the professor answered. There is a large field of twenty solar panels."

Lois had to admit that she was impressed. If this technology was as good as they say, this could change the world for better; that is, if the politicians didn't get involved, which they most likely would. "This all sounds great, but it sounds to me that we're about to have another political battle over another natural resource."

"Both Professor Hamilton and I agree that this technology should not be profited off of. The sun is an unlimited source of power, so we believe that it should not cost an arm and a leg."

"Yeah, well good luck with that, Mr. Naïve," Lois laughed. "Then again, that's always been something that's fascinated me about you."

* * *

><p>After long hours of work, the portal device was complete. Brainiac did not need to eat, drink, or sleep like mortals, so he was able to get it done rather quickly. He had turned his ship into a portal device that will open a gateway into the Phantom Zone. There was no need to leave this planet, so it was only logical to take his ship apart and use its parts to make the device. His ship provided everything he needed, including an energy source, so he had no problems building this large device in the middle of a large forest on the outskirts of Smallville.<p>

Smallville was the town where Kal-El was raised by his human parents. Logically, this would be the best place to unleash Zod. The carnage the former Kryptonian general would cause would be a calling card for Kal-El. The last Son of Krypton will be forced to come to this town where he would be destroyed.

Everything was ready to go. Brainiac plugged a cable into the back of the head, giving him the ability to see into the Phantom Zone. Before he could turn on the his device, he had to locate Zod among all the spirits floating around inside. Turning on this device randomly could result with releasing the wrong prisoner. After searching the vast emptiness, he found Zod's spirit. Having located him, he adjusted the settings on the device to his location.

He unplugged the cord from the back of his head and went over to the activation button. Pressing the button, the red lightning bolts streaked across the two slanted poles. The electric bolts became higher in intensity, and before long turned into what looked like a black hole. Brainiac did not have to wait long as Zod came walking out of the black hole.

The second he stepped out of the black hole, the portal device sparked and shut down, causing the black hole to vanish. Brainiac knew that the device would end up self-destructing after Zod had stepped into the real world. The power cells, barely, had enough power left in them after this long journey to Earth.

Zod looked around his strange surroundings after spending countless number of years in emptiness. "What a strange and colorful planet."

"You are on a planet called Earth," Brainiac replied. "You are many thousands of light years from where Krypton once orbited."

"Brainiac?"

"I have released you from the prison Jor-El put you in. The people of this world are primitive, but this world has something very beneficial for you."

"That is?"

"This planet has a yellow sun. Here, you will be like a god among insects. You will have powers beyond imagine including super strength and the ability to fly."

"Do you mock me, android?" Zod replied bitterly.

"See for yourself."

Zod looked around on the ground and found a palm sized rock; it was thick enough that no normal man would be able crack it with his bare hands. He picked it up in his right hand and put everything he had into crushing the rock in the palm of his hand. At first, it as difficult as he had anticipated until it instantly shattered into dust. It was true; he did have powers beyond reasoning.

"Your strength will only grow and more abilities will become apparent the longer youremain on this planet."

"How did you know about this? I demand you tell me!"

"You are not the only Krypton on this planet," Brainiac replied. "There is another who has been here for many orbital cycles, or years in Earth's time structure. He is capable of flying, shooting lasers with his eyes, and much more. You too will be able to do these things, given time."

"Tell me, who is this other Kryptonian?"

"He has made himself Earth's savior; they call him Superman. He is Jor-El's son."

The name sparked a blazing-hot hatred inside of him. Jor-El had sentenced him to the Phantom Zone shortly before the fall of Krypton. He had betrayed him, and left to spend a torturous eternity in this prison of emptiness. "Jor-El."

"Jor-El had successful saved his son from Krypton's destruction and sent him here," Brainiac described as he displayed a holographic playback of all of the main event in Kal-El's life on earth. He showed him his arrival to the planet, his earth parents, the farm he was raised on, and all the way to his recent battle with Metallo. "He was raised by the Earthlings in a town very near hear called Smallville. He has grown up to become Superman, Earth's greatest hero. He has developed a compassion for these insignificant beings."

"Typical that the son of Jor-El to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead of forcing these people to worship him, he treats them as equals." Zod was disgusted by what he was seeing. Jor-El's son really did make himself a servant to these mortals. It was an abomination to everything Zod stood for. "I shall seek out this 'Superman' and he shall kneel before me; then, I will kill him for his father's transgressions against me."

"You must wait a few sunrises until you are stronger. At this time, his strength far surpasses your own. In two sunrises, we can work together and destroy the son of Jor-El."

"I will not wait," Zod snapped. "I will have my revenge now! You will not lay a finger on him; he belongs to me, android!" Zod went to run, but without trying, he ended up running at a super speed, leaving Brainiac alone in the dust.

Brainiac calculated this to be a big problem. Zod overzealous attitude will become his downfall sooner than Brainiac wanted. Zod had to distract Superman long enough for him to carry out his task for Darskseid, without being detected. To compensate, he was going to have to set his plans into motion a little sooner than he had wanted. He calculated the chances of success were still great in his favor, but he was not satisfied with only a high percentage of success rate; he wanted perfection.


	12. Derailed

**Chapter 12: Derailed**

The demonstration at S.T.A.R lab was over, now it was time for Lois to get back to the Planet. She had no desire to find a cab and wait through the traffic, so she decided to try out the sky-train It had just reopened today after the track sustained heavy damage due to the tornado months ago. The line at the sky-train docking station was larger than usual as a result. Being without it for a few months made many people realize how convenient it actually was. Getting a taxi was like winning the lottery in the few months of down-time.

Despite the long line, it was still quicker than getting in a taxi and braving Metropolis' traffic, where you'd be lucky to travel a block in five minutes. With this mode of transportation, one large car traveled on the track throughout the city, with a new car arriving every eight minutes. This made the line go fast, and even with this wait on line, this mode of transportation was still the quickest way to get around Metropolis.

Lois finally made it onto a car, and was able to take a seat and relax. Waiting in that long line could be quite strenuous at times, depending on who was in front or behind you. It was almost like waiting in line to get onto a roller coaster at an amusement park; sometimes you end up near a person who you wish you could just punch in the mouth. She sat back in her seat and let her head lean back and relax as she waited for the car to depart from the platform. When the bell chimed and the doors slid shut, she was confident that she was going to have a peaceful ride. However, as the car started moving, her hope was dashed. "Lois Lane."

Lois spun in her seat and looked behind her to see Lana Lang walking down the aisle towards the empty seat across from her. "Miss Lang, Fancy seeing you on the Sky-train. What, did your limo breakdown or did your limo driver go on strike?"

"I'm not comfortable with riding in the limo, yet," Lana replied, taking the seat across from Lois. "Is it just me, or am I picking up some hostile vibes? Are you really that angry about me contemplating buying the Daily Planet out? You realize, that even if I do, you're job is not in danger. I'd be a fool to make sure that Metropolis's most famous reporter is not happy."

"I'm flattered," Lois replied. "But, perhaps that the company that you represent tends to leave a bad taste in my mouth," Lois replied snidely. "After Lex died, I was hoping that Lexcorp would die with him."

"Lois, not everyone in Lexcorp is like Lex. To tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting to become his replacement. After I learned about everything he had done, I was ready to quit."

"So money is more important to you than principal. I don't see that to be much better," Lois replied. Only after those words came out, did she regret the harshness she put into them. She really was not all that upset about her trying to save Lexcorp. She could not understand why she was being so nasty to her. It could not possibly be because of her previous relationship with Clark. What was there for her to be jealous about?

The sting of the words was made apparent by the look in Lana's face. "I can care less about the money. The only reason I took this job is because I genuinely think that I can make this corporation an ethical one once again. You have no idea what I've been doing to try to rid the corporation of Lex's stench."

"I know, I heard; you're changing the name back to Luthorcorp," Lois replied, not really interested in hearing the details.

"I'm doing more than just that. Luthor had an extreme hatred for Superman. Why, I have no idea; but I found that he had a huge stockpile of Kryptonite. I'm getting rid of all of it."

Lois squirmed in her seat, not liking what she was hearing. "How are you getting rid of it?"

"I'm getting help from the U.S. government. I've been in talks with General Lane who is interested in taking all of it. We can't afford it getting into the wrong hands."

"My father?" Lois was furious; her father was the wrong hands in this case. "What is he planning to do with it?"

Lana shrugged; surprised to learn the Lois was the General's daughter. "We're going to help them set up a defensive weapon to protect the earth from any possible hostile aliens out there. There has to be others like Superman out there, and they all can't be as noble as him."

The train shook violently, throwing Lois and half of the people in the car out of their seats. One of the wheels came dislodged from the track, which threatened to derail it completely. On the left-hand side of the rail was an emergency platform the stretched the entire track. If the car lost power and became stranded, the people could be evacuated safely enough since the track was ten stories aboveground. The hind wheels came off the tracks, and the back of the train started to swerve unto the platform.

Everyone in the car held on to anything sturdy that they could get their hands on. The screams of terrified people filled the entire train, as nearly everyone was fairly certain that they were about to die. The car was nearly sliding down the tracks sideways, while inching closer and closer to the edge of the track. The front hung over the edge and the weight began to tip it over.

Those inside, that did not have a good hold on something sturdy, found themselves sliding towards the front of the car. Lois found herself hugging her seat, holding on for her life. Lana was screaming in terror as she had just barely managed to grab hold of the pole before the car started to tip over. As she found herself dangling, another person had not been so lucky and was sliding down to the front. Her foot nearly kicked Lana in the face on the way down.

The additional weight caused the car to, completely, slide off the track and fall towards teh ground. On the ground, a mother was pushing her infant son in a stroller only to find herself in the path of the falling sky-train car. Paralyzed by fear, she was helpless to save the life of her son and herself. Her instincts told her to use her body to shield her infant son, even though she knew in her head that it would make no difference in the outcome.

Out of nowhere, a red and blue blur flew over her head. Before her mind could comprehend what was happening, Superman had caught the car over his head and was in progress of flying back up towards the track. Superman did not stop after reaching the track; he followed it, at a decent pace, all the way to next docking station.

As he reached the station, he realized that he was going to have to put it down just outside from the docking station; the roof top over tracks at the docking station was too low. He softly hovered down onto the tracks. As soon as his feet touched down, he carefully, and gently, placed the back end of the car onto the track. He walked backwards towards the front of the car where he was able to walk out from underneath the car and gently place the front of it safely on the track.

With the car safely down, he quickly moved to the controller's booth to check on the conductor. From looking through the window, it appeared that he was unharmed other than, perhaps, a mild concussion. He stuck his fingers into the cracks of the door and forced it to slide open. "Sir, are you alright?"

"Ye—yeah, th—thanks!" he replied, still in shock.

"If you will open the doors, I am sure that there will be injuries that will have to be taken care of. "

"Sure," he said. Pressing a button, both the front and the back doors slid open.

Superman looked over to see people starting to file out of the car. There were some with scrape and bruises, but nothing too serious. Among the people, he was surprised to see Lois Lane and Lana Lang together. He had not expected to come across either of them, and especially together. The awkward moment froze him where he stood. Ever since Lana returned, life had become more complicated than he had anticipated. There was still a part of him that loved Lana, but now, he had a budding relationship starting with Lois, who was very infatuated with him as Superman. To make things worse, Lana was the one person in the world who knew him very deeply. He could not be certain that the slight changes he had made in his appearance would fool her. Other than her mother, she would the one person that could see past his disguise, just like Lex was able to do. If Lex could see through his disguise, Lana would most likely be able to as well.

It was not difficult for Lois to spot him; it was as if she had a built-in Superman radar that went off in her head. Her eyes were instantly drawn to him. "Superman!"

"Superman?" Lana had never seen Superman in person before; she only knew him by reputation alone. She had heard that he was a very tall, handsome man, but she was more interested in seeing the man Lex Luthor had obsessed over. She looked out towards him, and she did not know if her eyes were playing tricks on her or not. He was standing pretty far away, but she could have sworn that Superman looked exactly like Clark Kent as she remembered him back during the days of Smallville. "Clark?" She muttered underneath her breath.

Lois overheard her and was almost shocked. It caused her to do a double take on Superman. For some strange reason, Lana Lang was seeing Clark when she looked at him. Squinting, she tried to imagine Superman wearing black plastic-framed glasses, but she could not overlook the differences between the two. Superman stood straight and exuberated confidence. Clark Kent walked with a typical, human arched back and was everything but confident. Clark was so inept at times, that it was impossible for anyone to fake it.

Superman could read Lana's face and see that she was trying to put figure him out. He could not allow that to happen. As the people from the car began to clap and cheer for Superman had done for them, he turned and leaped into the air. He could only pray that his sudden departure would not be taken as an act of rudeness. He had to leave before Lana recognized him. This was the first piece of evidence that keeping Metropolis safe had just become much more difficult.


	13. Smallville Under Attack

**Chapter 13: Smallville Under Attack**

As he entered this so-called 'town', he could feel the eyes of the locals on him. Why everyone was staring at him was the least of his concerns; as far as he was concerned, they were nothing more than insignificant insects. He looked around this dirt planet and could not help but be disgusted at how dirty the humans were. It was just completely uncivilized how these people can live their lives in this kind of environment.

He was startled by a loud and obnoxious noise from behind him. He turned to see a form of primitive transportation device. By the shape of it, he assumed that the back of this vehicle was designed to carry heavy objects. The operator was traveling directly behind him, seemingly wanting to get by him. The oporator lost his patience and commenced operating the vehicle around him, speeding up as he past him on the left.

Zod watched the vehicle pass him and speed off until he was out of sight. "Crude transportation device; how very unimaginative."

Almost immediately, another vehicle had come up to him and made a similar noise. Raising his right eye brown he turned to look at this new vehicle, who was not as quick to move around him. This transportation vehicle was smaller, and clearly meant for personal transportation. The operator of this vehicle was not content to move around him; instead, he felt the need to lash out at him. "Get off the road, Jerkoff!"

He had no idea what a 'jerkoff' was, but he did not care for the tone in his voice; his voice demonstrated superiority. The commoner was trying to command him as his superior. "Tell me, are you a general of Earth's military? Are you the supreme leader of this wretched planet?"

The man appeared confused as if he did not comprehend what he had just said. "Just get out of the road, Idiot!"

"By your reply, I take it that you are not." Zod turned completely around to face the vehicle and its operator. He clasped his hands together to form a massive fist, and he brought it down with such force, that the car collapsed to the ground. The vehicle no longer made noise as he had renderd it useless. The driver was in shock at the awesome display of power. As Zod walked towards the driver-side door, fear was quick to take over.

Grabbing hold of the door, Zod ripped it off the hinges and threw it aside. He reached inside and pulled the man out of the vehicle by his shirt. He hoisted the man up off the ground, forcing him to look down into his eyes. "I am a general, and I am physically and mentally stronger than you. Therefore, that makes me superior than you. How dare you command me! You shall show me the proper respect." He put the man down onto his feet, intentionally not bringing any harm to him. "Kneel before me, insect!"

The man was terrified out of his mind, but that did not stop him from trying to take off running. Quickly becoming agitated by the lack of respect from this insignificant fool, he fired two heat beams from his eyes, narrowly missing the man's ankles. The man took heed of his warning shot and raised his hands over his head in surrender. He turned back around to face Zod. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, dude!"

"I said, 'kneel'!"

In front of the other drivers who found themselves stuck behind his car, he humiliated himself and knelt down onto both knees. "Much better. Now, if you value your life, you will tell me where I may find the son of Jor-El. You may know him as 'Superman'. I shall make him do the same before me."

"I—I—I don't know, man!"

Zod did not believe him. He was about to force the answer out of him when another person came up from behind him. "Freeze! Hand's above ya head!"

He turned around to see someone pointing some type of primitive weapon towards him. From the way he was dressed, he held some form of authority on this planet. How much authority he had was yet to be determined, but Zod knew that this man was more likely to have the answer he desired. From the corner of his eye, he saw inferior male run for his life, but Zod was willing to allow him to leave.

"Are ya deaf, boy? I said, 'put ya hands up'!" The gray-haired man in uniform snarled.

"You wear a uniform and hold a weapon. Are you a part of this planet's military force?"

"I'm a police sheriff, dummy! Now get ya hands up!"

Zod found the man's answer to be puzzling. How could someone, other than a military soldier, hold any authority and be allowed to use a weapon? This concept was very alien to him. He supposed that a police sheriff had to be an enforcement guard of some sort, but no enforcement guard should have this much authority. "I will overlook your condescending incompetence if you will tell me where I may find Superman."

"Listen pal, I'm the one who's goinna get some answers 'round here, so for the last time, put ya hands up!"

"You will answer to me," Zod said, walking towards the police sheriff.

"Stay where ya're, or I'll fire!"

Zod did not respond, and continued to approach him. The sheriff had no choice but to fire his gun, but he had not expected the end result; the bullet bounced harmlessly off his chest. Zod ceased his approached and looked down to where the bullet had bounced off of him. "I am beginning to see that Earth's people are a weak-minded race of simpletons."

Zod fired a flowing stream of heat beams from his eyes at the weapon in the sherriff's hand. The gun quickly became too hot to handle and was forced to drop the gun. "Yow!"

Zod again approached the sheriff and before he had the chance to escapes, he grabbed him by his uniform. "Now contact Superman, and tell him I command him to hand over all of Earth's authority to me."

"I—I don't know how to communicate with him? Superman has no authority; he only shows up to help when needed."

The man seemed more than willing to talk now that he realized his inferiority; however, this information was less than desirable. "You lie! No Kryptonian would submit themselves to the authority of an inferior species, especially if they had the power of a god."

"It's the truth! He only shows up when there's trouble!"

So what Brainiac had told him was true: Superman had made himself a servant to these people. Instead of be worshiped like a god, he had humiliated himself and the Krypton people by becoming their servant. Did he even know of the threat Darkseid represented? If he had, he would have done more to build up an army to prepare for war.

Of course, none of it really mattered, now. The son of Jor-El had to pay for his father's sins against him. Because of Jor-El, Darkseid had destroyed Krypton, the only force in the galaxy that was a threat to the armies of Apokolips. Superman had to pay with his life.

Zod released the police sheriff and looked around at all the staring eyes all around him. There were some that were watching from inside the buildings. This was the perfect location for what had to be done. "If what you say is the truth, then let us cause some trouble."

He focused his vision at a parallel parked car up ahead, causing his eyes to glow red. Two heat beams fired from his eyes at the parked car. Everyone outside and near the car ran for their lives as the car began to glow red. Seconds later, the car exploded, violently, causing several windows of nearby shops to shatter.

The police sheriff knew that there was no hope of stopping the carnage which this stranger was going to continue to do, but he was elected to protect the fine people of Smallville, and he was ready to lay down his life, if he had to. Knowing that this could be the last thing he did, he moved quickly to get his gun. Zod retaliated by using his right hand to shove him so hard, that it sent him flying backwards through the window of the local soda shop.

Everyone in the lineup of cars began to evacuate their vehicles, desperate to run away from the chaos. Ignoring them, Zod reached down and began to lift the car, which he had rendered useless, over his head. He could not believe the strength which he now displayed; it was beyond anything he could have ever hoped for. The more he experimented with these new-found powers, the more excited he became.

With the transportation vehicle now in his hands and over his head, he tossed as hard as he could into one of the shops, throwing glass and brick in all directions. He had to admit, that causing this kind of damage was surprisingly fun. Seeing the terror on the faces of these people was very amusing. These ignorant, inferior beings thought they were the higher forms of life in this galaxy; proving them wrong was enjoyable and proved to be very satisfying.

Directly in front of him, he saw a car coming straight at him at full speed. It appeared that someone had thought it was a good idea to run him over in one of these primitive transportation vehicles. He had to admire the bravery, but the act would soon prove to be foolish. All Zod had to do was to stand where he was. He had learned that nothing could hurt him; so seeing what would happened here would only further his understanding of the powers he possessed. Once the fool saw that he could not be injured, Zod would then make him regret the decision to attack.

The driver lined the vehicle up with Zod and pressed down the accelerator with his right foot. Instead of ridding Smallville of this new menace, the car hit him, and it was like hitting a steel wall. The front of the car was reshaped around Zod's body as the car came to an abrupt halt. The impact caused the driver to hit his head on the steering wheel, leaving him in a bloody mess.

Even Zod was impressed by the outcome; he had not felt a thing upon impact. He had literately become an immovable object. He was indestructible and untouchable; indeed, he was like a god here on this planet. Since he was like a god, he needed to punish disobedience and treason as such. He knelt down before the car that had tried to ram him and grabbed hold. As he stood up, he lifted the front of the car off the ground. When he was standing up straight, he flipped the car, like a coin, onto its back.

As much fun as causing chaos was, he was quickly losing his patience. He was wasting his time with these insignificant creatures when he should be looking for Kal-El. It was time for him to step-up his attempts to draw him here. He slowly began to hover upward until he was above all the buildings. He could see several blocks of this primitive town.

"Son of Jor-El, come to me!" He shouted. He was surprised how far his voice carried. He was certain that he could be heard for miles. "Do you not care for these people?"

He took a deep breath and then rounded his lips before unleashing a hurricane force wind down upon the town. Everyone who was outside found themselves being blown away, incapable of staying on their feet. Parked cars were picked up by the wind and thrown into buildings and on top of other cars. A few ended up rolling down the road like logs with no hindrances to stop them.

He ended his windy attack to admire his work for a second. However, Superman was yet to show his face. "Are you a coward, son of Jor-El? Come to me, Superman, and bow before your new master! Kneel before Zod!"

He waited for a minute for some kind of reply, but there was still no response. Frustration began to overwhelm him. He was ready to burn this town to the ground for Superman's defiance, but he was able to calm himself down as an idea came to mind. Brainiac had shown him images of Kal-El's time on earth, and one of the images was his Earth home near here. Using his greatly enhanced vision, he was able to locate that very house. If Superman was not going to come to him, then he was going to go to him, and that home was most likely where he would find all of his answers.

* * *

><p>Martha Kent had caught herself, once again, staring at the picture of her late husband. Some days were better than others, but at least these down days have now become much more rare. The truth of the matter was that she was very lonely, living on this farm. Since her husband's death, she had allowed another local farm to use her land to grow and harvest corn for themselves. She had no need for any of that any longer. At times, she could not help but feel as if she was living on someone else's farm. She still contemplated selling this land and moving out of Smallville, but she had a hard time letting this place go; Jonathan's presence was in every part of this house.<p>

As she sat down gazing at an old photo of Jonathan, she was listening to the radio to hear what her son might be up to. Her radio was set to Metropolis' twenty-four-hour news station where they reported on something her son had done, almost daily. There was seldom a day that went by that he was not mentioned in some way.

Her deep thoughts were abruptly interrupted when her living room wall exploded. The force of the explosion threw her to the ground, where she had to cover her face from the flying debris. When the dust settled, she looked up to see a strangely dressed middle-aged man standing before her. The clothes were like nothing she had ever seen, which could only mean one thing. This man was just like her son, Clark.

"You are his Earth mother. You will tell me where to find Kal-El, or you will serve as my bait. I warn you, human, at your age, you probably will not survive that option."

"Wh—who are you?"

"I am Zod, General of the Kryptonian Military Force: the greatest military power in the galaxy. Kal-El must pay for this sin of his father, Jor-El. "

"I—I don't understand."

"Because of Jor-El, Krypton was destroyed. Since Jor-El is no longer alive to pay for his crime, then his son must take his stead."

Martha cautiously pulled herself off the floor and up onto the chair; her head was swimming in confusion. "That's not true, he tried to save the planet." Clark had told her some of Krypton's history after his quest to become Superman. He had spent many years learning the history of his planet, and everything Zod was saying was going against everything the archives stated. She was more willing to believe her son and Jor-El than this mad man.

"He turned his back on me, the only man who could have saved our people!" Zod snapped angrily. "Now, Superman will pay the price. Tell me where he is, woman!"

Martha wiped the blood from her forehead. She was not about to help anyone hurt her son; she was willing to give her life to keep him safe. She refused to say another word to him, which only began to set him off.

"Have it your way!"

Zod was ready to torture the old woman when he heard a voice over some primitive, old communication device of some sort. A female's voice was speaking at an annoying rapid pace, more so that what should be allowed over a military communication device. "Metropolis' hero, Superman, once again came to the rescue as one of the cars on the Sky-train tracks derailed. Thanks to him, there were only minor injuries and no fatalities. Officials believe that some of the repairs made to the track were not up to inspection standards. An official inquiry will be made."

Zod's anger quickly subsided upon overhearing this communication. "The leaders of your planet's military forces are imbeciles for allowing secret information like that to be heard by commoners. They should be shot for allowing a commoner like you to even own a military communication device. Never-the-less I have what I came for."

Zod turned and departed from the house, leaving Martha sitting in her chair in a daze. She looked over at the radio, which the Kryptonian general seemed to have mistaken for as a communication device, cursing the bad timing of that special report. She had a very deep feeling that her son was about to find himself in grave danger.


	14. Lucy's Bad Idea

**Chapter 14: Dinner with Lana**

"So, Miss Lane, what kind of mischief are you getting yourself into now," Turpin asked, taking sip of his morning coffee.

"It's about Lexcorps new CEO, Lana Lang. I don't trust her," Lois answered after finishing her mouth full of scrambled eggs.

Turpin chuckled underneath his breath; he knew that this was going to rear its ugly rear head sooner or later. The truth was that he was also very angry that Lexcorp was avoiding bankruptcy. He had worked for years to bring down Lex Luthor and his evil empire. The corporation needed to have their doors shut, and the legacy of Lex Luthor needed to wash away from Metropolis forever. "I've heard that they've decided to put a young, spring chicken in charge of the company. So, what's she done to get your feathers all riled up?"

"Did you know that she sold a huge stockpile of Kryptonite to my father? You know my father's opinion of Superman and what he's capable of doing."

"Hmm," Turpin grunted. He did indeed know General Lane well enough to know what he could and probably would do with a giant stockpile of Kryptonite. When Superman first arrived at Metropolis, Turpin was not thrilled with someone stepping in on his job. Unlike the general, however, Superman had won over his respect and willingness to work together to break the back of the criminal underworld that was trying to take root in Metropolis. The general was too busy looking at Superman as a possible future threat to see him as alley in the here-and-now. "While I share your concern about what your father might do; I doubt that the DOJ will allow him to do anything rash, at least, until the fly-guy has a chance to address the issue."

"I wish I share your optimism," Lois replied dryly. "Who knows what could happen with Lana Lang running Lexcorp. I don't know how much pull she has with the U.S. Government. The fact that she was able to get my father in her back pocket is very disconcerting."

Turpin finished the last bite of his bagel and then at sat back in his bench. His eyes were bobbing around in his sockets, testifying of the busy activity going on in his mind. After a minute of silence, he finally replied. "I suppose I can look up Miss Lang's background and see if anything pulls up. Unless there is evidence of foul play, that's the extent of what I can do."

Lois thought about the offer. Was she taking this too far? What would Clark think if he found out that she was having his ex-girlfriend's background checked for criminal activity? The last thing she wanted was to hurt him, but there was something about the woman that she could not bring herself to trust. She refused to believe that this was about jealousy; there had to be some other explanation for the way she felt, and she was determined to prove it to herself.

* * *

><p>It was an answer to her prayers. Lucy was so bored out of her mind at her sister's apartment, then when the door bell rang, she was quick to answer it. If she watched another stinking soap opera, she was going to tear the apartment up. When she opened the door, she was pleasantly surprised to see Jimmy standing there. "Jimmy? Aren't you supposed to be at work now?"<p>

"I've decided to play hooky. The way I see it, I've never missed a day of work in my life. I think I'm entitled."

"Look at you; ain't you a bad boy," Lucy grinned, happy to see that Jimmy was not afraid to break the rules once in awhile. "Wanna come in?"

Jimmy's eyes became wide as he looked around her inside the apartment. It took Lucy everything she had not to laugh. "My sister's at work, remember? There's no reason to worry."

"Oh yeah, I forgot," Jimmy laughed at himself as he entered the apartment. He found it very disconcerting to be in Miss Lane's apartment. He still could not shake the feeling that she was going to appear and chew him out for coming into her apartment. She was not a big fan of strangers coming to her apartment. "Anyway, I'm sorry our date didn't turn out too well."

"It was exciting though," she replied. "Of course, my sister is now even more of an over-protective freak."

"So, you're stuck in here all day by yourself?" Looking around the apratment, he saw that there was very to keep someone like Lucy occupied other than television. There was no computer in the apartment and no books to read. Lois was not much of a movie buff so there were no DVD's or blu-rays to keep her entertained. She did not even have cable; the most channels she had to chose from was nine. This apartment was hell for a young man or woman.

"Lame, isn't it?," Lucy replied "You know what? I've got an idea. Let's really be bad; let's get out of here and have some fun."

"What did you have in mind?" Jimmy asked.

"I dunno, Let's just be spontaneous! You're not afraid, are you?" She smiled at him wryly.

Actually, Jimmy was afraid of running into Lois and having everyone know that he really was not sick, however, being around Lucy was well worth the risk. "Me? Afraid? Let's go!"

* * *

><p>Clark and Lois were in Perry White's office upon his request. This little conference was not unexpected; in fact, Lois was surprised that it had not come any sooner. That did not mean that she was going to like what was about to happen. "Due to the rise in violence plaguing the Metropolis, I have no choice but to impose some new restrictions."<p>

"So why are you singling us out, Perry?" Lois asked.

"Because you're you," Perry frowned. "This goes for everyone at the Planet, but especially you, Lane, because I know you'll never listen. Mr. Kent, you're here to make sure she stays in-line. From now on, you two are to stick together like bread and butter; like toast and jam. No one is to work alone, and Jimmy will be stuck with you two when he returns. Furthermore, work hours will be strictly nine-to-five. No putting in overtime after hours, and no evening hour investigations."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Lois protested.

"Great Ceaser's ghost, Lane, will you do as your told for once! I'm trying to save your life! It's not like I'm trying to get you to learn the latest Windows operating system!" Lois hated computers with a passion. Perry had tried everything he could to try to get her to learn how to use them, but she had proven too stubborn for even the likes of the editor-in-chief. She was content with typing her stories up with an electric typewriter.

"If you had been asking that of me, I wouldn't still be here."

"Times are rough on all of us; the economy is crap, and now this. Financially speaking, this decision is going to hurt us tremendously, but I rather have you alive and unemployed rather than dead. Mr. Kent, I'm counting on you not to let her out of your sights until she is safely at home."

"What, now I need a baby sitter? No offence, Clark."

"None, taken," he replied.

"The decision is final. Now, get out of my office!"

Lois stormed out of the office. Clark left on a more somber note. "Lois, you know this is only temporary. Things are going to get better." He followed after her until they reached her desk. Since his desk was across from hers, he went over to his and sat down.

"Quit being so naïve, Smallville; this city's under siege. The only way we're going to get to the bottom of this is by doing what we do best…investigate."

Before Clark could respond, he found a hand-written note on top of his computer keyboard. He read it to himself, and he was stunned to see that it was from Lana. He had to read it a second time to make sure he was not reading what he wanted to read.

"Clark? Are you listening?"

"Uh, sorry Lois," Clark said. "We'll get to the bottom of this, but first It appears that I have a lunch date with Lana."

"What? You on a date? You're joking, right? I thought things between you two were over a long time ago." The thought of Clark on a date was bad, but the thought of him skipping out on her to spend time with Lana was worse, almost insulting.

"The two of us have some personal issues that need taken care of. Whether we decide to get back together or not, that's our concern." Clark needed to find closure for what he had put Lana through. The way he ended things between them was unforgivable; he saw that now. He ended things, so he could fulfill his destiny to become Superman. He had been certain that their relationship had to be sacrificed for him to fulfill that calling, but maybe this was destiny's way of repaying him for the many sacrifices he made. Whether that destiny was to reunite with her or to, properly, end things with her and strengthen what he had with Lois. This dinner would go a long way in helping things become clearer.

"Okay, go ahead and have your lunch date. Don't mind me; I'm sure I'll be able to find someone to go eat lunch with." Lois said, trying to put the guilt trip on Clark, but when she looked over, he was already gone.

* * *

><p>Jimmy found himself at a Starbucks drinking a Frappuccino with Lucy. Jimmy was never big on coffee, but these Frappuccinos were pretty good. Somehow, though, Jimmy got the feeling that this was just a warm-up to what Lucy had planned. She was buttering him for something big; he could feel it. The crazy thing was, he was almost ready to do anything to impress her.<p>

"I take it that you've never stepped foot in a Starbucks before?" Lucy had already acquired an uncanny ability to read him. It caused him to question if his life was too simple.

"That's not true," he responded. "I've been in a Starbucks before. Of course, I was taking pictures at the time, since it was a crime scene."

Lucy laughed harder than Jimmy had ever seen her laugh in the short time they've been together. It made him feel good to make her laugh; it made him feel a lot less of a dork. It was hard enough to imagine why someone so attractive as Lucy would even notice him in the first place.

After taking her final sip of her Frappuccino, she slapped the empty plastic cup onto the table. "I'm really tired of my sister's nagging over me. I know it's all because of the Intergang running amuck in Metropolis; so let's do something about it, already!"

Jimmy was expecting a bombshell of a suggestion, but nothing of this magnitude. "What can we do that the police or Superman hasn't?"

"They can't because they're too busy, but we're not. Let's go find the Intergang's hideout! If we can find it, then my sister will have the story of a lifetime!"

"Whoa, I wasn't expecting anything that heavy," Jimmy moaned. He would have thought that her hostage situation would have unnerved enough to try and attempt something this crazy. He should have known better; she was, after all, Lois Lane's sister. "Don't you think that's a little out of our league? We're not reporters, and we're definitely not qualified for something like this."

"Awww, where's your sense of adventure?" She taunted with a devilish grin on her face.

"You're really serious! You really want to go find their hangout?"

"Why not?" Lucy replied. "The Intergang is nothing more than a bunch of hyped-up youth hooligans. We can probably blend right in without them even knowing it."

"I don't know," he shook his head. "You'll have to dye your hair, and I'll have to get same facial jewelry. Even then, I don't think I can pass for a gang member."

"Oh come on, do it for me?" Lucy hopped off her chair and walked around the table. She clutched onto his arm passionately as she leaned towards his face. She pressed her lips against his, taking Jimmy by surprise.

When she pulled away, it was almost as if he had been brainwashed. With one kiss, he was ready to go to hell and back for her. Perhaps it was just all the hormones going wild, but it didn't matter. "Okay, let's do it."


	15. Kneel Before Zod

**Chapter 15: Kneel Before Zod**

Seeing Lana in her sexy and sleek red gown nearly took Clark's breath away. It reminded him how beautiful she was. He could not help but flashback to the high school days. They were madly in love, more than any high school couple there was. He could remember all the fun times they had: the picnics, the movies, and the dances. Her face was slightly more mature now, but she remained as beautiful as ever. Whether she was wearing her evening gown to get him jealous or not, he could not tell.

"Is there something wrong with your food?" Lana asked after taking a sip from her glass of wine.

"No, nothing's wrong, why?"

"Cause you haven't taken your eyes off of me since we got here."

Clark had not realized that he had been staring. He shook his head and quickly took a bite of his lunch. "Sorry. Just strolling through memory lane; remembering the good ol' days."

Now it was Lana's turn to stare at him, but not for the same reason; she refused to let her mind go back to the time when they separated. It was the one thought from the past that dominated over-all others. What was on her mind was something that she had been mulling over since their encounter at the Daily Planet. At first, she thought that she was going crazy, but now that she had another look at him, she knew it was not in her mind. "How old are you?"

"Lana, we graduated together!" Clark wanted to get off the subject quickly. Even just talking to her as Clark Kent, she was starting to put things together. As Superman, he did not age the same way as the people of earth. Based on his father's calculation, he could live through three generations of humans. When Lana reached eighty, he will look like he was in his mid thirties. This was another side effect of Earth's yellow sun. He did not even want to think about what his life will be like when Lois and others began to grow older, and he remained the same. He was contemplating giving himself streaks of white hair when the time came.

"Yeah, we did graduated together, and I know you weren't left behind in school; you were a straight eight student. So you should be around what… twenty-eight… twenty-nine?"

Technically, he was twenty-nine. His mind began to reel, trying to find the perfect excuse to throw her off the trail. His excuse would depend on what she was about to ask him.

"You still look like you're barely in your twenties. Other than your build, you have the face of a college kid?"

"I suppose I was blessed with a baby-face. Should I grow some facial hair to make me look older?"

"You put one facial hair on that handsome face of yours, and I will kill you!"

"So you think I'm handsome?" Clark smiled, turning the tables on her.

Lana looked down at her plate to try to hide her blushing face. She had no intentions of getting emotionally invested in Clark again, but there was something about him that made it very difficult. He always had a very likable personality. In her mind, he had been the perfect boyfriend; he was someone right out of those romantic flicks. He was handsome, honest, humble, strong, courteous, and a man with high values and integrity. That all changed, in her mind, when he abruptly ended their relationship without any warning.

Neither of them had the time to break the awkward silence when a giant explosion rocked the building and shattered the window. The sudden chaos threw both Clark and Lana to their feet as well as everyone inside the restaurant. Clark could hear, through his enhanced hearing, the petrified screams of the people out of the streets. Of all the times that the Intergang would choose to attack Metropolis; they had to choose this very moment.

He kept his frustration at bay as he turned towards Lana. "I'm sorry, Lana, but I've got to go."

"Clark, are you crazy! You're gonna get yourself killed going out there!" Without thinking, she reached out and grabbed him by the arm.

"I have to; it's my job," He replied. "Stay inside until the danger is over."

Clark snuck out of the restaurant by heading into the kitchen and through the back exit. Stepping into the filthy alleyway, he grabbed his button-down shirt and ripped it open until all the buttons were pulled off the shirt. Underneath his shirt was his Superman costume. The rest of his civilian clothing came off after he leaped into the air. When he was high enough so no one could see him, he twirled himself like a cyclone until they were properly removed.

He followed his ears to where the chaos was, ready for yet another round against some very obnoxious young kids. This time, he was determined to get some answers from them. He had to find out who the brain behind the Intergang was, and what their intentions were for Metropolis. As he got closer, he could see a small dust cloud hovering over the street. The buildings on the street had sustained massive damage, unlike anything he had seen before. The Intergang had really stepped up their attack this time.

Zipping through the dust cloud, he landed in the center of the street with such force, that the road cracked underneath his feet. With such a deadly attack, he felt it was time to start using intimidation; however, he was startled to see that there was only one person standing in front of him. "You are a little old to be in a gang."

The man grinned as he looked like a man who had just been given the keys to the world. "Son of Jor-El, I've been looking for you."

"Excuse me?" Hearing his father's Kryptonian name caught him completely by surprised. He then noticed that uniform he wore did not belong to any force seen on Earth . He was wearing a Kryptonian military uniform. This man was not part of the Intergang, he was Kryptonian. His first thought was Brainiac, but he was an android, not a human.

"So they call you Superman, yet you waste your time serving these pathetic life forms who are too weak to defend themselves."

"Who are you?"

"Of course you don't remember me; you were but a baby in your mother's arms when I last saw you. In a way, I am kind of like your godfather."

"How do you know my parents? What is your name?"

"I am your new master. I am Zod."

"Zod? General Zod?" Superman nearly stepped back at the news. Zod was his father's best friend who later tried to recruit him into his coup against the Kryptonian council. Jor-El had sent him to the Phantom Zone just before Krypton exploded. As far as he knew, it was impossible for anyone to escape this eternal prison. Somehow, Zod had found a way.

"You and my father were friends once, and out of respect for him, I am willing to overlook your transgressions for you to make a fresh start with me on Earth. This violence, however, must stop, now!"

"You can overlook my transgressions all you want, but I cannot overlook your father's. By Kryptonian law, you shall pay for his sins against me and my people."

It was as he feared: Zod was out of his mind. Jor-El had warned him that his hunger for power was turning him insane. There was going to be no reasoning with him. "Well then, it is a good thing that neither of us are on Krypton, any longer."

"Nevertheless, Son of Jor-el, you shall kneel before Zod!" With incredible speed, he ran until he was nothing more than a blur to the naked eye, right into Superman. The impact sent Metropolis' hero flying backwards for five blocks until he crashed, head on, with the front of a bus that was driving down the road. He found himself indented into the grill, and could only imagine the injuries inside of that base upon their collision.

The doors let out a hiss before it slid open, releasing everyone who was capable of escaping. Superman gently pushed himself off the front of the bus, being careful not to move the bus too much, in case there were still injured people inside. He could not afford the time to confirm it or not; Zod was the bigger priority here. He looked around at the startled people, not quite sure what was happening. These people had no idea of the threat that was only five blocks down the road, and quickly making its way here.

"Everyone! Please get out of your cars and take shelter! Now!"

The people all looked around each other with puzzled looks on their faces. None of them had any idea what he was talking about or why they should do what he said. That reason became evident immediately as Zod fell from the sky to land on his feet on top of the hood of car. The impact instantly crushed the person who was in the driver's seat as the roof completely caved in upon landing.

Superman heard the gory death of that poor soul in the car through his enhanced hearing, and it made him sick to his stomach. "You have left me no other choice, Zod."

He reached into a small hidden compartment in his yellow belt and got a small Kryptonian crystal fragment. He tossed it towards Zod and then used his heat beams to destroy it before it could bounce off of Zod's chest. In front of Zod, small blue bolts of lightning appeared in mid air, with no apparent source. In seconds, a portal had opened, which closely resembled a black hole.

Zod leaped off the hood of the car and away from the portal. "Not this time!" He grabbed a man who had been watching the events unfold, and threw him towards the portal.

"No!" Superman screamed. He had not anticipated such a move. He could not allow an innocent human to be sucked into the phantom zone. He jump and flew like a speeding bullet to intercept the man before he got pulled through the portal. He stretched out his arm and caught him as Superman and continued to fly until he was a safe distance from the portal.

He helped the man back onto his feet once he was safely back on the ground, and the man decided not to stick around after his ordeal. Superman, had to move quick, to close that portal before Zod tried another trick like that. He found a deserted car in the right lane. He raced to pick the car up off the ground and, with as much strength as he could, threw the car towards the portal.

The portal would not close until something had crossed the threshold. Superman hoped that the portal would shut itself down once the car passed through. The car flew through the black hole, and as he had hoped, the portal disintegrated into thin air.

"Did you really think you would be able to send me back to my prison that easily?" Zod said mockingly.

Refusing to give in to anger, he charged at the former Kryptonian general with super speed. In a blur, he grabbed Zod by his uniform and thrust him upward, high above Metropolis. He had to get him out of the city so no more innocent people would be hurt. Bending his knees, he jumped into the air like a rocket with both of his fists leading the way.

As Superman was about to catch up, Zod stopped his ascent into the sky. With reflexes that surprised even himself, he hovered backwards and timed his kick perfectly to be able to kick superman in the chest. The Man of Steel quickly found his course forcefully changed as was sent spiraling out-of-control into one of Metropolis taller towers. His body crashed through one side of the building and out the other. Screams of terrified people echoed through most of the fiftieth floor, leaping out the way of, what looked to them, a large red and blue canon ball.

Superman finally managed to correct himself and found himself in stare-down with Zod through the hole in the tower. "Come, Superman, and meet your fate head-on."

With a deadly serious look on his face, he stretched both firsts in front of him and flew at him like a missile.

"The same attack? How unoriginal."

Superman sped right back through the hole he had just made, and when he reached the other side of the tower, he brought both arms to his sides as his eyes began to glow red. That was when Zod realized that he was tricked, but it was too late to do anything about it. Superman unleashed two massive and powerful heat beams, which engulfed the upper half of Zod's body.

Zod yelped in pain as the impact sent him flying backwards into a large light- up advertisement sign. Upon impact, the sign threw massive sparks in all directions. After a minute, when all power had gone out of the sign, the sparks came to an end. Before Zod had the chance to come to his senses, Superman was again on top of him, this time with his right around his throat, trying to keep him pinned to the torched sign.

Zod grabbed Superman's wrist and threw him away from him, allowing himself to hover away from the sign. If Superman liked things hot, then he was willing to oblige. Zod took a deep breath, reaching, deep down, into everything he had in his gut, and fired two heat beams of his own. Only, his heat beams were less than impressive than what Superman had just down. His heat beams did not even make Superman flinch.

"What? Impossible!"

"You are new to this planet. Your body has not soaked in nearly as much rays from the yellow sun as mine has; I have been here all my life. That means, Zod, that I am stronger than you."

"No!" Zod growled angrily. He lunged for Superman's throat but found himself quickly in a wrestling match as they slowly fell back towards the city.

* * *

><p>A bright light formed in an alleyway, and stepping out of the light was three young punk kids ready to cause some mischief and mayhem. The time had come to make the Intergang's presence felt once again, but this time, they were the ones in for a surprise. As the three kids stepped out of the alleyway, they were taken back by the damage that they were already seeing.<p>

"Whoa, dude, what happened here?"

"We didn't do dis, did we?" The female of the small group said.

"No, look!"

The three kids looked up the street to see a crowd of people gathering into the streets. Everyone one of them were looking up to the sky and shielded their eyes from the sun in the process. The three kids looked up to see Superman in some kind of wrestling match with another man as they fell towards the ground.

"Who's dis punk?"

"Dunno', but de udder guy is really dishin' it out on de Sups!"

The oldest of three kids pulled out his video phone and dialed a number. On the screen , the leader of the Intergang appeared, but he did not have a happy look on his face. "What? What are you doin' your job?" Bruno scowled.

"Some udder dude is doin' it for us."

Bruno's face softened upon hearing about this development. "What do you mean?"

"There's dis udder flyin' dude fightin' him as we speak."

"Interesting," Bruno replied. "There better not be a rival gang making its way into Metropolis, but then again, if they want to make our job easier, then why should I complain."

"What do we do?"

"While Superman is distracted, place the tracking beacon onto his cape, then return back."

"You godd'it!"

* * *

><p>Superman got the upper hand over Zod just in time. He grabbed him by the neck and virtually body slammed him into the street so hard, the asphalt shattered upon impact.<p>

Superman hovered the last few feet to touch safely unto the ground. "End this Zod. You are not strong enough to defeat me."

Zod snarled as he climbed back to his feet. "You will die by my hands. I shall have my justice."

He lunged at Superman and two of them were once again coming to blows. As they were, no one noticed one of the members of the Intergang sneaking in among the gathered crowd who had begun cheering for Superman. Without anyone noticing, she stealthily pointed a small futuristic looking pistol at Superman. She waited until she was certain that she had a clear shot.

Superman had Zod down on his hands and knees. He took advantage of the situation by grabbing his arm and spinning him around and around as fast as he dared. Superman was just shy of becoming nothing more than a blur to the eyes of everyone watching. Superman came stopped abruptly as he threw Zod through the window of a bridal shop.

The young punk kid had her clear shot, and she took it. Pulling the trigger, a very tiny tracking sensor shot from the tiny barrel and latched itself onto Superman's red cap. The device was so small, that it was easily mistaken for a piece of rubble from the fight. With her job done, she sneaked away in the same manner she sneaked in, and joined her friends, so they return to the hangout together.

"Come on out, Zod," Superman ordered, folding his arms in front of him.

No reply came from within the bridal shop. Some of the pedestrians in the area became curious about what had happened to Zod and walked closer to take a look inside. "Please don't!" Superman urged. He wished that these people would go hide instead of watching the fight. Being out here only made them a liability, but he also knew that humans had an undying curiosity. They could not resist watching a violent rumble between two super beings.

When everything remained quiet within the shop, he used his X-ray vision to look inside the shop. Through all the damage, he found no one inside. He did, however, found another freshly made, large hole at the back of the shop. Zod had found a way to retreat.

* * *

><p>As soon as he thought it was safe, he took to the sky and flew as fast as he could out of Metropolis. Anger raged in his veins over his embarrassing loss to Jor-El's son. Brainiac had warned him what would happen if he rushed in to fight him, and the android was right. Zod had not yet gained the same level of power as Superman. If he continued to fight, then it would have only been a matter of time before Kal-El would have tossed him back into the Phantom Zone.<p>

Perhaps it was time for a different strategy. He needed to become stronger and faster before even thinking about confronting Superman again. It was foolish of him to try to go after him without a full understanding of this planet and its resources. He had to submit to the understanding that until he understood this planet better, and allowed his body more time to gain more strength, that Superman had the full advantage.


	16. Zod's Aftermath

**Chapter 16: Zod s Aftermath**

With Zod gone into hiding, things were getting back to normal. This gave Superman time to get answers that he needed. He had been expecting Brainiac to come looking for him, not General Zod. There was only one who could possibly have the answers.

He traveled nearly half the globe to reach his fortress. Entering the massive ice-crystal structure, he climbed a massive set of stairs up to the control platform. The moment his foot stepped onto it, a holographic image of Jor-El appeared directly in front of him. "I sense that something unexpected has happed. Tell me, my son."

"I was told that escape from the Phantom Zone was impossible. I was confronted with General Zod, today. "

"When I created the portal into the Phantom Zone, It was to be used for two purposes. It could be used , not only, toimprison the worst of the worst criminals, but as a means to save lives. In the Phantom Zone, death does not exist. Sending the injured and dying there would prolong their lives long enough so their lives could be spared. However, as time went on, it became used, merely, for imprisonment. Releasing a prisoner from the Phantom Zone was always meant to be possible, but the technology to do so has never gone past the theory stage. If Zod has escaped from his imprisonment, then it had to be done by someone on the outside, and someone with great intelligence and knowledge of all internal Kryptonian databases."

"Brainiac," Superman said. The solution was so simple, he could not believe that he had overlooked it. "Brainiac is here on Earth."

"Brainiac is capable of accomplishing such a task," Jor-El confirmed.

This was not good news. If Brainiac released Zod from the Phantom Zone, then it stood to reason that they were probably working together towards his demise. That could be very bad for him; tackling two sources that could potentially want to destroy this planet could be more than he could handle alone. However, based on how Zod was acting today, something told him that their alliance was not completely solid. Zod was more interested in revenge for what his father had done to him, and anyone with that kind of mindset was usually very unstable. If Superman had to guess, he would guess that Brainiac had released him in hopes of controlling him to do his bidding, but instead, Zod became reckless and came after him earlier than intended.

One thing was for certain, that Brainic had come in that meteorite shower in Smallville. What he was currently doing, was the big question. He had to find him before the android accomplished whatever goal he had. Superman leapt to the sky and flew out of the fortress through openings between crystals at the top of the structure.

After his presence had left the fortress, the holographic image of Jor-El vanished and the lights all dimmed. The fortress had powered itself down, but the silence did not last very long. A bright light flashed inside and a boom tube formed on one of the steps near the display of Metallo's head. Walking out from the tunnel of light, Bruno was instantly greeted with a blast of frigid cold temperatures.

Rubbing his arms in a futile effort to keep warm, he pressed on to his ultimate prize. The final piece to the puzzle of Superman's demise was now his. Now, he had everything he needed to rebuild Metallo and to rid the world of Superman. With Superman gone, the criminal underworld would once again have a strangle hold on Metropolis.

* * *

><p>General Lane was told that he needed to see what was on the news by a young soldier. He hated surprises, so he demanded to be told. Yet, after he had heard the news, he needed to hear it for himself. Finding a portable television, he turned on to MNN news channel and saw it for himself. The replays were showing Metropolis being attacked by someone who had similar abilities to Superman. His worst fears had been realized.<p>

Another alien of the same origins as Superman had come to Earth. Even thought it appeared that Superman had dealt with him, this proved that there are hostile aliens out there, and Superman was responsible for bringing them here. Any reservations he might have had, in doing something to kill Superman, was now gone. If there was one hostile alien at there, then there had to be more. The time for indecision was over. He had to do something to save the the citizens of this country before all was lost.

General Lane turned to the soldier who had given him this disturbing news. "Get me the Department of Defense. As of now, Operation Dustcloud is officially a go."

* * *

><p>Mercy Graves had been keeping herself very busy as of late. She wanted to find a powerful man, who shared her hatred for Superman, to offer her services, but she was not going to depend on her impressive resume under Lexcorp. Thanks to some hacker friends whom she still had from her days working under Lex, she had gained a vast amount of top secret knowledge of everything that was going on in Lexcorp and throughout Metropolis.<p>

There were a few things of interest that she dug up. S.T.A.R Lab's experimental solar power generator was one of them. She had the hacker download everything he can about the science behind it, and she handed that information to a former Lexcorp scientist whom Lex had trusted. With any luck, he would be able to discover a way to use it against Superman.

She also learned about the Miss Lang's work with General Lane to create a way to saturate this planet with Kryptonite dust. She had liked everything about this plan, and almost admired Miss Lang for coming up with such an ingenious plan. However, what she was seeing now on MNN news was changing her mind. Another alien just like Superman had come to Earth, and this man clearly had a strong hatred for Superman. He was the man she had to find and offer her services, which now meant that this Kryptonite dust cloud plan had to be put to an end.

Mercy was no fool; if this new Kryptonian was an unstable as he appeared, simply saving his life would not guarantee that he would not kill her on the spot. If she could offer him a way to kill Superman, then, just maybe, he would accept her and perhaps even more. She had to make sure that her friends come through for her, even if they needed some incentives to do it.

* * *

><p>Clark sat at his desk, and looked at the clock. There was still an hour of the workday left after everything he had been through. When you're Superman, time tended to slow to a crawl. He could travel across the world, and save Metropolis all in a matter of a few hours. In the next hour, he could type up and hand in a piece for tomorrows edition of the Daily Planet.<p>

"There you are?" Lois said, slamming her hand down on his desk. "Where've you been?"

"I was at lunch with Lana when we were caught in the middle of Superman's huge fight."

"What?" Lois was beside herself. If what he said was true, then she just missed out on not just another front-page story, but a chance to see and talk to Superman. "Where was I when this happened? Who was he fighting?"

Clark had to be careful with what he said. Revealing too much would expose himself, but revealing too little would alienate her. Funny, he was virtually invincible, yet he was still afraid of the wrath of Lois Lane. When it came to journalism, Lois had a very tough time telling friend from foe. To her, all journalists were her enemies. "He had the same powers as Superman. I—I think he was Kryptonian."

"Another Kryptonian?" She never imagined that there could someone else like Superman out there. He had told her that he was the last Kryptonian. She could only imagine his surprise when he discovered that there was another. It was sad that this new Kryptonian had to be evil.

A sudden thought came rushing back into her brain, causing her to lose composure. She remembered the Kryptonite weapon that Lana and her father were developing. If her father had learned of this attack, then she had no doubt that he was going to move forward with it, killing Superman in the process. As much as she did not want to hurt Clark, she no longer had a choice; she had to tell him everything that Lana had been doing. "Clark, there's something I need to tell you."

Clark's Blackberry rang inside of his pocket. "Hold on," he said as he pulled it out of his pocket.

Answering the call, Lois waited patiently for the call to end. Unfortunately, for her, she was not going to be afforded the time to tell him. He hung up on the call and shot up to his feet. The look in his face told her that something bad had happened. "I have to go; my mother's in the hospital."


	17. Brainiac Strikes

**Chapter 17: Brainiac Strikes**

When Jimmy saw Lucy, he almost failed to recognize her. After their coffee, they went to buy clothing, jewelry, and a hair dying kit for their disguises. When they had everything they needed, they went back to Lois's apartment to get changed. Jimmy was first to get changed into his disguise, and after looking at himself through the mirror, he did not know if he could pull this off; he still looked more like a nerd than a punk rocker. His fake lip ring and Goth disguise could only do so much to hide the truth.

However, Lucy was completely the opposite. When she came walking out of the bathroom, it all looked very natural to her personality. Thanks to some help of make-up, her face was as white as a ghost and her lips as black as death. She dyed her hair black and used enough gel to give herself a Mohawk, which she dyed hot pink. She had a fake nose ring which looked very convincing.

The time had come to put their disguises to the test. Jimmy's stomach was turning wildly. He had never done something like this in his life. He had done some crazy things with Lois to get some out-of-this-world, headline photographs, but this was beyond crazy. How did he allow her to talk him into something so reckless?

Trying to find the hangout proved to be challenging. They had to be careful about where they walked, because the police would most likely arrest them just because they look like members of the Intergang. They began by searching alleyways with a high concentration of graffiti. When that proved futile, they went to popular young adult hangouts. However, they came up empty once again. They had really underestimated how hard finding the hideout would be.

They were nearly at a lost when they found themselves in the middle of what appeared to be a war zone. Superman was in the middle of a fight with another man, who appeared to be just as strong. He had begun to feel guilty that he was missing what would certainly be tomorrow's front-page story. He was ready to tell Lucy that they should just give up on finding the base when Lucy pointed to a young goth girl sneaking out from a crowd of onlookers. After some heavy prodding, Jimmy reluctantly went with Lucy and stealthily followed the young adult.

The girl had joined two boys in an alleyway. It was an odd move for them to hide in a dead-end alleyway. However, things became clearer when they activated some remote, which created some kind of tunnel made of light. When the three walked through the tunnel, Jimmy found himself being pulled by Lucy down the alleyway and through the tunnel just before it had a chance to close.

They now found themselves in some strange abandoned warehouse that was transformed into a young adult's playground. There were skateboarding ramps, arcade games, air hockey and foosball tables, and even a half-sized basketball court. These kids were living it up.

Jimmy and Lucy walked among the kids, and most assumed that they were part of the gang. A few, however, were eyeing Jimmy suspiciously. When one swaggered towards his direction, his heart stopped. Was it all over for them, already?

"What's up wid you? You don't look like one of us?"

"I— uh…"

"Leave my brother alone, prick! He's new here," Lucy played the part perfectly, getting into the face of the punk kid.

The kid grinned, inspecting the girl in front of him. "You're hot. How 'bout the two of us have some fun?"

"Get lost, doosh bag, before I make ya!" Lucy curled her lip as she clenched her right hand and made sure that hesaw it.

"Your lost," the punk replied, trying to restore what was left of his pride. "But your brother bedda get some new clothes, or he'll be getting a lot of beat downs 'round here."

"You let me worry about that," Lucy scowled as he grabbed Jimmy by the arm and pulled him away.

When the punk kid returned to his friends, Jimmy sighed with relief. "That was close."

"As big as this place is, it doesn't seem to be as big on the inside as it is on the outside. There has to be a door to another section of this warehouse. Help me find it."

Jimmy and Lucy carefully made their way through this maze of entertainment. As they approached the far wall, their path became less cluttered, and began to resemble a more adult-like atmosphere. The kids were either less interested in this area, or knew better than to be caught there; Jimmy could not tell, which was the case.

As they ventured to the wall, they found a door hidden in the shadow. "This looks promising," Lucy whispered. She placed an ear on the door. "There's people inside. They sound like adults."

"Okay, we've found the hideout, let's go and tell Lieutenant Inspector Turpin and your sister."

"Are you kidding? They're hiding something back there! We've got to find out what."

"But…"

She already opened the door a crack and raised a finger to her lips. He had no choice to sneak into the other room with her, and make sure she did not do something even more foolish. The room was very large, fortunately for them. They were able prowl into the shadows without any of the people noticing them. With large crates scattered through the room, Lucy was able to get them close to the meeting, much to Jimmy's dismay. They hid behind a couple of them to listen in to what was going on.

"We now have both pieces of the weapon," Bruno said, looking down at the two pieces of Metallo on the table. Thanks to some solders and mechanics to repair some of the dents. The body was missing a chest plate, so they made a new one with a circular window over the Kryptonite heart.

"An android? All of dis fuss was over a stupid android?" Chains was ready to tear Bruno's head off of his shoulders.

"Not just any android. This android was constructed by Lexcorp. Made of the strongest metal on earth, Superman can't even bend this stuff. With a Kryptonite heart that is fully exposed, he'll never be able to get close to him and survive for very long."

"Impressive," The oriental woman replied.

"Once we unleash this android, he will seek out and destroy Superman. With him gone, the city is as good as ours!"

"So what are we waiting for?" Another crime lord asked. "Activate him, and let's be done with it."

Jimmy knew the android all too well. Bruno war wrong to think he could control him. This was all going to end bad, and they were now in grave danger just by being in the room. "Not good, we've got to get out of here now!" Jimmy whispered, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

"Wait," Lucy urged. "I have my cell dialed into my sister. If she's hearing this, then the authorities will be tracking my phone here. We've got to stay here until they arive."

"Leave the phone here, and let's go," Jimmy insisted. "We don't want to be here when that android is activated."

"We'll be fine as long as we stay in the shadows."

Bruno took Metallo's head into his hands and looked into the half-human face. This face of evil was about to bring Metropolis to its knees. He brought the head to the neck and snapped it into place. The Kryptonite heart began to shine brighter, as the android's human and robotic eyes glowed red. When his human eye began to blink, it became clear that he could already process thoughts. Metallo was alive once again.

The android sat up on the table and looked around his surroundings. The memories of his final moments were coming back to him. He remembered killing Luthor and wrestling with Superman in the pool when his head was separated, causing him to power down. Now, he found himself in a strange, abandoned warehouse with people staring at him, as if he was their greatest invention ever. By the way these people dressed, he knew that these were probably crime lords. However, he could instantly tell that they were incompetent. They obviously did not know that they were being spied upon by two young kids. He recognized one of them as Jimmy Olson, the photographer from the Daily Planet.

"Who are you?" Metallo asked, looking at the man he assumed to be the leader of this pathetic group of underworld criminals.

"We are the Intergang. We have reactivated you so you can unleash your fury upon the man who put you on ice: Superman."

"How thoughtful of you," Metallo replied, swinging his legs over the table. "So, am I to assume that I am to do as you command?"

"I— uh…" Bruno did not know what to say; something inside of him was warning him of danger. This android was unlike anything he had ever expected. He expected a brainless automaton that followed orders. Metallo was anything but mindless.

Metallo's arm sprung up, and his hand clasped onto his throat. "I will kill Superman, but I'll do it when I want, not because anyone tells me to." With a flick of a wrist, he broke his neck with a sickening snap. He threw the lifeless body of Bruno to the ground and stood from the table. His gaze geared towards the other members of the gang.

"Aw, damn!" Chains muttered, pulling out his gun. "I knew dis' was a bad idea!"

"I have seen enough," a new voice came from the shadows. Entering the fray was another android, but this one looked much more alien.

"What is that?" Jimmy whispered to himself from behind the crate. "I've never seen that android before."

"Aw Man, Bruno said notin' about a second robot!" Chains said angrily.

Metallo turned to face the new android, not completely sure what he was seeing. "What's this, an upgraded model?"

"Believe me when I say, you are not even close to being significant next to me. Lord Darkseid, the one that has given you your 'super weapons' has sent me to take control of this pathetic crime syndicate, you call the Intergang. I am now the master. You may refer to me as Brainiac."

Metallo clenched his fists, angered by the disrespect being shown towards him by this lifeless android. "Me, not significant? I had Superman on his knees. I am made of the strongest metal on the planet; it's a metal that not even Superman can destroy."

Metallo charged at Brainiac and lunged at him with punch to the face. Without flinching, Brainiac caught the first in the palm of his right hand. "I am clearly not Superman."

Brainiac squeezed the fist with strength that Metallo had not expected. The pain he was feeling brought him down to his knees, screaming. With one final squeeze, sparks flew and there was his entire fist was flattened. When Brainiac finally let go, Metallo jumped to his feet and stepped away. He looked down at what remained of his hand; it was nothing more than scrap metal and circuitry. "Impossible!"

Metallo could not let this go unanswered. Breathing heavily, his Kryptonite heart began to glow brighter. An intense green beam fired from his chest window right at Brainiac. The beam hit the android in the chest, but did not even cause him to lose his balance. Metallo quickly ended the futile attack, stunned to be confronting something that was proving to be stronger than him. It was impossible to believe that he could nearly kill Superman without much effort, but he could not handle this new android.

"It is beyond illogical that these people could think that you would prove to be a threat to Kal-El. I calculate that you have zero percent chance of victory against me." Brainiac suddenly launched bright yellow beams from his eye sockets which quickly overwhelmed Metallo. He fell to his knees, screaming in sheer agony. Flames engulfed him until all his flesh evaporated; even his metal was beginning to melt. When Brainiac ceased the attack, all of Metallo's humanity had been burnt away.

Yet, that was not going to stop him from fighting. If for no other reason, he had to show that he could still stand and fight.

"Hell wid dis'!" Chains turned and ran for the door, no longer caring who won this battle. With any luck, they would destroy each other.

"From this point forward, the Intergang is no more!" Brainiac fired his beams at the heavy-set crime lord. His scream only lasted for a split second, because after that, there was nothing left of him except his skeletal corpse. His entire body, including his internal organs, had all evaporated in the blink of an eye.

Hoping to catch him off guard, Metallo lunged for Brainiac with everything he had. Again, the alien android swatted his attack effortlessly, and used his right arm and hand as a spear to pierce him through the stomach.

His power was draining from his body and his strength was nearly gone. Somehow, this new android could ram his hand completely through his body to the other side, without any resistance from this super strength metal that he was supposed to be made of.

Brainiac pulled his arm out and shot it right for the Kryptonite heart. His hand shattered the glass shield on his chest and wrapped around tightly against the glowing green rock. "Your part in this story, is over." He crushed the Kryptonite heart until it was nothing left but dust.

The red glow in Metallo's eyes dimmed as his mechanical body collapsed to the ground. Brainiac stepped closer to the deactivated android. He raised his left foot and stomped on the head, resulting in it shattering into millions of small pieces. With this threat taken care of, his focus returned to the petrified leaders of the Intergang. "It is time to clean house, as you earthlings put it."


	18. Unstoppable

**Chapter 18: Unstoppable**

This could be the greatest day of Turpin's career; the Intergang's hangout had been discovered, though it was through very unconventional means. He had received a call from a very distressed Lois Lane saying that her sister had called her from the Intergang's hideout. He moved heaven and hell to get that call traced and set up this sting operation with the MPD and S.W.A.T to take down these punk kids once and for all. He was driving his company car, leading the large convoy of squad cars, and armored vehicles. Helicopters with spotlights flew overhead, to join them in what could be Metropolis' proudest moment.

Sawyer was with him as always; she was not going to miss out on the city's biggest crime bust in history. Unfortunately, they were stuck with Lois Lane, who would not take no for an answer. He understood what she had to be going through; her sister did something very dangerous and stupid. He could only hope that they could save her before it was too late.

As they arrived to the warehouse, they found themselves in the middle of a mass exodus out of the building. All the kids were running for their lives out of the warehouse. "Damn, they've been tipped off."

"Lucy!" Lois' thoughts already drifted towards the worst possible scenario. She had to have been discovered for the Intergang to have been tipped off.

Turpin threw his door open and charged after the closest kid. If this bust was going to be a bust, then he was going to make sure he at least captured one of them. Perhaps he could learn where the new hideout was going to be. "Dan!" Sawyer yelled, getting out of the car to chase after to him. She had to make sure he refrained from doing anything foolish.

Dan chased after him, calling upon the strength of his former high school football days, and with a diving lunge, he tackled the kid to the ground. The kid continued to fight franticly to escape his custody. "Lemme go! Lemme go! I don't wanna die!"

"Stay still, punk! The only way you're getting away from me is if the world is coming to an end!"

The entrance to the warehouse exploded, showering wood and debris all across the dirt road, and leaving a giant hole in its wake. Any officer or agents, who were out of their vehicles, had to hide behind them to avoid the flying splinters. A figure stepped out from the dust cloud that resulted from the explosion. An android, unlike anything anyone had ever seen, was standing there, staring at the surrounding patrol cars and armored trucks. A spotlight from one of the helicopters flying overhead shown down upon the android, giving all the officers a good look at what they were now up against.

"What the hell?" The punk kid, whom Turpin had tackled, took advantage of the diversion, and escaped from his grasp. Turpin's full attention was now on this strange-looking robot.

Lois stepped out of the car in complete shock at what she was seeing. "What in the world?" She had no explanation, but something inside of her told her that this android was alien. After being around Superman for so long, she had acquired a sixth sense on these things.

All the agents and officers had their weapons pointing at the android, but on one knew whether they should open fire or offer the opportunity to surrender first. "Why do I get the feeling we're about to relive the gunfight at the O.K. Corral?" Turpin muttered to Sawyer.

"Funny, I was thinking that this is gonna be worse," she responded.

Brainiac stared out at all of humans standing before him, and then up to the annoying propelling earth vehicle hovering over his head and shining a bright light down on him. It was time to put the fear into these earthlings, and make them realize how weak and feeble they are. He fired two yellow beams from his eye sockets up to the sky. They hit one of the helicopters, which erupted in a giant ball of fire.

Everyone on the ground covered their eyes from the explosion. As the burning wreckage fell back to the earth, the officers on the ground had to run from their positions, to avoid being crushed and burned to death. The wreckage fell on top of an armored car, spraying the immediate area with flaming hot screws, bolts, and other small pieces of metal.

"We've just stepped into hell," Turpin grunted.

* * *

><p>Clark's mother was awake and fully alert. Except for some bruises and a swollan face, she appeared to be unharmed. Sitting by her bedside, she told him of Zod's appearance at the farm. As she told the story, he had to stop himself, several times, from feeling rage over the actions of this rouge Kryptonian. He had no doubt that Brainiac had a hand in helping Zod find the farm. As soon as he could, he was going to find them, and bring them to justice.<p>

"I'm glad that you're okay. You may be almost invincible, but that doesn't keep me from worrying about you any less," Martha said, sitting up in her cot.

"Zod is not really much of a threat to me. His powers are only in the development stage," Clark replied, holding his mother's hand between his. "There's something that I need to tell you. I've never told you this because I didn't want you to worry about me."

"Oh, I'm always going to worry. That's what mothers do," she grinned.

"I've never told you why I was sent here to Earth. It was more than just to save my life. There's an evil out there in the galaxy, and I think my father, Jor-El, knew that Earth would one day be threatened by it. That is why I'm here; to protect this planet from this threat. I believe we're now experiencing the first wave of this evil now."

"Then I'm glad he sent you. Your ability to use science is uncanny. If anyone can save this planet, it's you. What gives you strength is the ability to love; and love always triumphs over hate. If you've learned anything from your father, it's that."

Clark looked up at the television in the room, which was turned to the MNN news. Though the sound was turned down low, his enhanced hearing allowed him to hear the whole story. They had a special report coming in and live shots of what was supposed to be the biggest bust in Metropolis' history. He was glad to see that Dan Turpin had managed to find a way to locate the Intergang's hideout without his help. However, things were not unfolding out as plan. As the camera came into focus, he saw an android standing in front of the warehouse. "Brainiac!"

The android attacked a helicopter flying overhead, and the camera caught it as the burning remains came crashing to the ground. Clark watched things unfold, and knew he had to be there. "I'm sorry, mom, but it looks like I'm needed back in Metropolis."

"You go. Don't worry about me, I'm fine," Martha replied.

* * *

><p>All hell broke out faster than Turpin had ever seen. Everyone who had a gun began to open fire upon the alien looking robot. Turpin had lost control of the operation, and there was no way to get everyone to caease firing. From his experience, these last few months, he knew that showing aggression in these strange circumstances never worked out well for them. That was why he and Sawyer were the only two not firing. One bullet was more than enough to understand the threat they were now facing. Provoking this thing was only going to cause more innocent fatalities before the big man could arrive.<p>

Lois also could sense more chaos coming, and was quick to get out of the car and get out of the danger zone. It was a good thing she did, because the android was quick to retaliate against the gun fire. The android pointed his right palm forward and unleashed a nearly invisible pulse. The tiny shockwave took all the bullets that were in mid-air, and shot them back to their original destinations. Instantaneously, a dozen men and women died on the spot; their lifeless bodies collapsed to the ground.

"Holy crap!" Turpin was taken aback by the ease that this android was able to take more than a handful of Metropolis' finest down.

Brainiac did a quick mental calculation for the best way to cause fatalities. He turned his focus to one of the armored vehicles and fired his eye beams. The vehicle erupted in a giant explosion. An unfortunate MPD officer was caught in the flames of the explosion. Letting out an agonizing scream as if he was fighting the flames of hell, the poor soul erratically ran for his life as his entire body was engulfed in flames. The flames were so intense; his comrades were incapable of helping to extinguish the flames. The man was as good as dead.

Brainiac was not done with the carnage yet. With a slow wave of his right hand, half of vehicles began to slide to the right in reaction. All the officers and agents using them for shields were being pushed with their vehicles. He did the same with his left hand and the other half of the vehicles reacted in similarly.

Serving as a warm-up to what he was about to do, the android stretched both arms forwards. He flicked the fingers of his right hand, and one of the cars to his right flipped up into the air like popcorn. The terrified agents on the ground leaped out of the way as it came crashing back down to the ground, head first. With a flick of his left fingers, the same thing happened on that side. This time, however, one MSCU agent could not escape the falling car. It came crashing down on his head, killing him instantly.

Brainiac continued the chaos, flipping another car in the air. This one was coming right for Tuprin and Sawyer. "Crap!"

He grabbed Sawyer by the arm and the two of the leaped out of the way, barely avoiding being crushed to death like the previous agent. "What the hell is that thing?"

"Something tells me that this is beyond Lexcorp's capabilities." Sawyer commented.

A soft sound of rushing wind slowly intensified. Something big was coming towards them, and based on the reaction of Brainiac, it was not coming from him. The battered group of officers and field agents were looking to the sky, not quite sure from where the sound was emanating from. All they knew was that they were at ground zero of something big that was about to happen.

A red and blue blur flew through the sky like a missile, and sped right towards Brainiac. The sudden impact was so intense that the ground began ripple like water. The foundation of the warehouse cracked, having severely been compromised. The ground shaking made it difficult for many of the officers and field agents to stay on their feet.

When everything settled down, a giant dust cloud remained where the android had been standing. Everyone in the area only dared to take a few steps closer to attempt to see what had just happened. As for Tarpin and Sawyer, they already had a fairly good guess. "Is that who I think it is?" Sawyer asked.

"I'd stake a year salary on it!" Turpin replied.

From within the dust cloud, they could hear what sounding like the crackling of a series of small bombs. When the sounds ceased, Superman came flying out of the dust cloud, backwards. He went sailing diagonally upward right into an electric tower. Sparks showered around him as electricity coursed through his body. As he fell to the ground, the tower and all the wires connected to it collapsed to the ground around him.

Brainiac stepped out of the dust cloud and looked past all the officers, towards Superman whose body was smoking from all the electricity as he climbed up onto his right knee. "Son of Jor-El, I was beginning to surmise that you were hiding behind these feeble humanoids."

Superman returned to his feet. He could afford Brainiac time to monologue. That last thing the people of Earth needed to hear about right now was about Darkseid. The people of Earth could not afford to lose hope, after already being demoralized by the Intergang for so long. They needed the hope that things were going to get better. He was going to do everything he could to make that happen.

He charged at Brainiac with such speed, he virtually floated over the ground in the process. Raising his fist over his head until the right second, he sped towards the android like a bullet. As he approached, he threw his fist forward, hoping to puncture through the metal of the android's body. Instead, his fist hit some kind of impenetrable, and invisible shield surrounding its frame.

Superman tried again with a volley of randomly located punches, but the shield would not yield  
>to his super strength. Brainiac fought back with a few punches of his own. The first punch knocked the wind out of the Kryptonian, giving him the chance to plant two more painful jabs.<p>

Brainiac shoved him away and dropped a strange-looking disk onto the ground in front of him. The disk lit up and before Superman knew it, a pyramid of light formed, imprisoning him inside. He cautiously went to reach for the light, but found that it was a strange, solid barrier, unlike anything he had ever seen. He tried to punch through the barrier, but it remained impenetrable.

The disk which powered this pyramid barrier was still powering up, which told him that this weapon was not yet done. Something inside of him told him that he did not want to be here when the device finished powering up.

Looking around, he seemed to be completely trapped inside of this trap. When he looked down to the ground underneath his feet, he could see his feet still leaving marks in the dirt below. There was no barrier between him and the ground, and that meant there was a way out.

Crossing his arms in front of him, he spun in place with such speed, that he had become a drill. He drilled through the ground until he was deep underground. A green light lit on the disk, and immediately, the pyramid-shaped chamber was engulfed with green, electrical bolts. In seconds, the intense bolts ceased and the chamber was deactivated.

"Error, I have miscalculated the ingenuity of Kal-El. Chance of successful termination… minimal."

The ground underneath his feet began to tremble. Piercing through the ground, Superman came up right underneath him and delivered a devastating uppercut. The impact sent Brainiac flying diagonally upward, back through the upper level of the warehouse. Knowing that all he had really accomplished was to surprise the android, Superman took flight, following the path that Brainiac had been thrown.

With the battle taken out of view from everyone, some of the police officers curiously began to approach the severely weekend warehouse. With their weapons drawn, they were ready to look inside and inspect the damage, hoping that Superman had taken the fight elsewhere. Running out from the hole in the wall, and startling all the officers, Jimmy and Lucy were glad to, finally, be out of the warehouse.

"Lucy?" Lois recognized Jimmy instantly through his lousy disguise, but she hardly recognized her younger sister; she looked like a whole different person. "Thank goodness!"

"Lois!" Lucy shouted, seeing her older sister off to the side.

The two young adults ran for her, running from this whole mess and anxious to return to the real world. They had spent enough time in the underworld for one lifetime.

"Thank the stars you two are alright. What were you thinking?" Lois scowled grabbing Lucy by the nap of the neck and pulling her towards safety. Somehow, she knew that the fight between Superman and that android was about to commence.

The moment that thought entered her mind, parts of the warehouse exploded as yellow beams blasted through the wall. Another set of beams broke through the wall. This time Superman came spiraling out of the warehouse, only to collide into the side of one of the armored vehicles.

Brainiac paced out of the warehouse emotionlessly. Cold, calculatedly, and unremorseful, he pointed the palm of his right hand towards him and a large metal coil sprung out at him. The coil wrapped around Superman twice, after which it became electrified.

Superman screamed as the intensity of the electricity slowly increased. Fighting against the pain, he struggled to break free from the coil. As the energy in the coils increased, the harder it was to concentrate on mustering more strength.

He forced his mind to concentrate on anything but the pain he was in. He thought about what would happen if he should fall to this android. He had visions of the future of this planet should he fail. This planet would not survive Darkseid's tyranny. The planet would burn in unquenchable flames, and the humans would be tortured and mutilated into submissive servants to the dark lord.

No, he could not allow that to happen; he could not fail here. He found that surge of energy he needed. He pushed his arms out as hard as he could, ignoring the pain. Finally, the coil snapped, and an instant feeling of relief washed over him.

Now free from Brainiac's hold, he was ready to do whatever it took to end this fight. Brainiac was proving to be even more of a menace than he could have imagined. His eyes began to glow red as he took a deep breath. He unleashed two heat beams from his eyes, putting a massive amount of power behind them.

The beams hit the android, but the shield around his body only reflected the beams away from him. Superman continued his assault, none-the-less; perhaps he could crack that thin-layered shield.

Brainiac looked up to the sky to see another helicopter still flying overhead. It was time to test a theory that he had. He had studies Kal-El's personality all the way to Earth. Up to this point, he had miscalculated his resolve to protect earth. Based on what's happened in this fight, he calculated that he had a seventy percent chance of killing Superman. To someone, like Brainiac, those was not good enough odds; he desired perfection. If this test proved accurate, then he had a key to increase the odds completely in his favor. It would also serve as an opportunity to escape to pursue this new 'perfect' strategy. Brainiac fired two eye beams at the helicopter's tail, cutting it off.

"No!" Superman ceased his attack immediately and looked up at the helicopter that was spinning out of control. He leaped to the sky, racing as fast as he could to reach the helicopter. Just as he was about to grab hold of one of the landings bars, two yellow beams hit him like giant fist in the ribcage, sending further away from the helicopter.

He grunted, as he clasped onto his side. His ribs felt like there were on fire. Ignoring the pain he made another attempt to save the news crew in the helicopter, but once again, Brainiac pushed him away with his eye beams, this time hitting him in the chest. Now his chest was on fire, and making it hard to breath.

He tried again, as the helicopter was getting dangerously close to crashing into the warehouse. Brainiac again shot in the right shoulder blade with such impact; it pushed him past the point of no return. He could only watch as the helicopter crashed through the rooftop of the warehouse. The resulting explosion was the straw that broke the camel's back, and the foundation gave way. The warehouse collapsed inward until it was nothing more than a pile of rubble.

Superman hovered there for a second in pain and in utter shock. That shock quickly turned into anger. The anger became rage, but before he had the time to act on it, Brainiac fired another set of beams, tagging him right in the center of the 'S' on his chest.

The pain became too much for him and found himself plummeting to ground. He landed on the roof of one of a police car, which collapsed under his weight. Never in his life did he feel so sore and weak. Almost all of his muscles felt like they were on fire. It took everything he had to roll himself off the car. Still a little unstable on his feet, he took a limping step forward.

When he looked straight, he noticed that Brainiac was gone. Had all of this been just a distraction, so he could escape? Why did he even feel the need to escape when he had pretty much over powered him? Whatever the reason, there was a part of him that was glad that he did. If he was completely truthful, to himself, he had to admit that he was no longer a match for the Kryptonian android in his present condition.

"Wow, I've never seen you man-handled like that before," Turpin said, walking up to him cautiously.

"Are you… hurt?" Sawyer asked.

Superman looked up at the two MSCU agents who were concerned for him. They were not the only ones worried about him. From a distance, he could see Lois looking at him with a nervous look on her face. She had seen how badly Brainiac had beaten him.

"I will be fine," Superman replied. "My metabolism allows me to heal quickly. I'll be ready the next time he shows his face."


	19. A Change in Strategy

**Chapter 19: A Change in Strategy**

"What the hell were you two thinking? Do either of you realize how stupid your actions were?" Clark had never seen Lois this angry before, but under the circumstances, it was understandable.

Lucy and Jimmy looked at each other blankly. They were starting to understand how stupid it was, especially when they were nearly killed by a strange android. Neither anticipated such a turn of events, even though they should have. Only now, after everything that had happened, did they see how foolish their actions were.

"We just wanted to help." Lucy replied, but her words even sounded hollow to herself.

"By getting yourselves killed? Lucy, do you realize what I would go through from Dad if he learned that I let you get killed on my watch?" Lois snapped. "Do you realize that Dad didn't want you here in Metropolis in the first place? It took a lot of arm twisting to convince him that I would keep you safe."

That, Lucy did not know. Their father was hard-nosed and over protective, yes, but she did not know he tried to prevent her from coming to Metropolis. She should have known that he would have tried; sometimes, he could go well beyond over-protection into the realm of being controlling.

Clark stood there and watched as Lois scolded the two teenagers. A few times, he thought he was going to have to intervene because she was going to get too rough on them, but Lois always managed to stay behind that line, despite how angry she was. She showed remarkable restraint in disciplining her younger sister; a characteristic that was usually lacking during her fits of rage.

Lois phone on her desk rang, but she was too busy to take the time to answer it. "Clark, will you get that for me?"

Clark nodded as he walked up to her desk and answered the call. "Daily Planet, Lois Lane's desk."

"Mr. Kent?" Dan Turpin's voice came over the receiver. "Can I speak with Miss Lane?"

Clark glanced over at Lois who continued to chew out the two teens. "She is currently disposed at the moment. I'd be glad to pass on a message for you when she becomes available."

"I don't see why not. Tell her that I've managed to find the time to complete a background check on Miss Lana Lang, the new CEO of Lexcorp. Everything checks out. She seems to be an honest businesswoman."

His first reaction was shock, which quickly turned to anger. Behind his back, Lois had Lieutenant Inspector Dan Tuprin of the MSCU do a background check on Lana? The more he thought about it, the more it ate at him. She had done nothing to warrant such suspicion from Lois. He was willing to testify of her legitimacy, but Lois was more interested in tearing down another Luthorcorp CEO, so she could have another award-winning story. "I'll see that she gets the message."

Lois looked in his direction when he hung up on the phone, and the look on his face told her that it had been a mistake to have him answer the phone. "We'll talk about this later. Off with you two."

Jimmy and Lucy walked off like scolded dogs with their tails between their legs, leaving the two of them alone. "For a mild-mannered reporter, like you, to be angry, I know this can't be good."

"You know the history between Lana and me. Why did you have to have Dan Turpin do a criminal check on her?"

"Oh, that…" She had almost forgotten about that; had she remembered, she would not have risked having Clark answer the phone. She had to assume that the news came back clean; if it hadn't Clark would not be this upset about it. She had wished that something was found, so this awkward moment could have been avoided. "It's a funny story, I—"

"You were upset about her taking the position of CEO of Lexcorp, which you'd fought hard to expose and shut down. I get it. What I find suspicious is how you seemed to try to hide it from me."

"I had good reason, Clark. I had a nice little chat with her recently, and she may be falling into Lex's footsteps."

"I think I know her well enough to know better," Clark replied. "And I really don't think that's the issue at hand."

"If you're saying I'm jealous then—" Lois said, her temper already flaring up.

"What I'm saying is that she and I are just trying to figure out where we stand right now. You can rest assure that she's nowhere near as corrupted as Lex was. And even if we did decide to get back together, isn't that my business? Can you give me a good reason why I shouldn't be seriously thinking about it?"

Lois could not bring herself to answer him. Clark was showing strength that he had never shown before. Few men have ever stood their grown with her, let alone challenge her in the way he had done. That was why she never considered dating many of the men. Up to this point, Superman was the first man that she had ever consider seeing herself with; he was the first to be man enough to actually make her feel like a woman. Now, Clark Kent was providing some competition. There was more to this bumbling farm boy from Smallville.

Yet, her pride would not allow her to admit defeat. She hated to be made to feel guilty over anything, even if she was at fault. "No, what you want to do in your personal time is none of my concern."

Clark shook his head in disappointment. She still was not going to admit the truth. He had no idea if she was able to admit it to herself or not, but he could not force the matter any further. "I thought so. Then do me a favor, and lay of Lana, won't you."

"I'll lay off her, but if she continues to prove to be a threat to Superman, I will have to do something," If he was going to try make her admit to being Jealous, then she was going to reverse the tables on him. Clark had always been jealous of Superman.

"Wait… what? What are you talking about?"

"Lana Lang and my father are teaming up on a weapon to saturate this planet with Kryptonite dust. Your 'girlfriend' just sold all of Lex Luthor's Kryptonite Stockpiles to the U.S. government."

Clark was stunned, unable to accept what he had just heard. Yes, he had no idea what Lana thought about Superman, but he could not imagine her being willing to do something that would hurt anyone; it was out of characteristic for her. However, she had been working for her entire professional career. It was more than possible that Lex had intentionally hired her to get to him. "No, there's got to be a problem with your source."

This was not quite the reaction she had expected. All she was trying to do was get him a little jealous, but he was taking it more like a personal assault. She did not mean to hurt him in any way. She could not help but feel that she had probably gone too far this time. "Clark, I didn't mean …"

"It's fine Lois," he replied emotionlessly. "I'll find out the truth when I talk to her tonight."

* * *

><p>This planet was bigger and more populated than Zod had realized; this planet was overabundant in life. The humans seem to have put every inch of surface to some sort of use. His first judgment about them seemed to be incorrect. The humans were intelligent, and capable of doing great things.<p>

He was now flying over another major city like Metropolis, and it testified of the ingenuity of the human race. Their taste for art were pretty impressive as well, as apparent by the giant green statue on a small island surrounded by the liquid surface. It appeared that the people of this planet worshiped this female who held some kind of torch. She was the least warrior-like figure he had ever seen. It was no wonder why these people were so weak.

They needed a new leader to worship; one that would make this planet strong. Stuck in their own limitations, they needed someone who was exceptional to take charge and lead. How could the Kal-El not see the needs of these people? For someone who appeared to care for them, he appeared more willing to leave them to perish in their pathetic state. He should have introduced this planet to Krypton's way of doing things, but he was too selfish.

If Superman was not going to do it, that Zod was more than willing to do it himself. He would be glad to rule this planet and raise up an army to stand up and fight against Darkseid. This planet could easily be turned into a new Krypton, one even stronger than the last. Once again, General Zod would rise up to lead the fight against the armies of Apokolips.

His quest for vengeance had blinded him to the possibilities that this world had to offer him. Perhaps it was time to let it go, and begin rebuilding this planet to Krypton's image. Instead of killing the son of Jor-El, perhaps he could make him see reason and join him in his quest to rid the galaxy of Darkseid once and for all.

As he flew through the buildings, he took noticed of a teenager dressed very oddly, who seemed to enjoy mutilating his body with strange symbols and metal jewelry. He was standing in front one of these spectacular buildings, defiling it with gibberish words with a can which sprayed out red ink.

Curiosity got the better of him and he descended to confront this troubled youngster. When the boy saw him landing in the alleyway with him, he dropped the can. He had heard of Superman, but he knew enough to know that this was not him. This man was not donning the red and blue costume. There was no telling what he would do.

"Tell me, do you not fear the consequences of your actions? Do you not fear what Earth military will do to you?"

"I—I don't kn—know what you're t—talking about, dude!"

Zod grabbed the kid by the collar of his shirt to make sure the boy did not try to run before answering his questions.

"Do you not fear what Earth's military will do to you for defiling this building?"

"The Police? E—Earth doesn't have a military."

The concept of police was very strange to Zod, but even stranger to him was the discovery that Earth did not have a military. "Tell me, what type of government does this planet have?"

"M—M—Many different kinds! Every country is d—different." The boy replied nervously.

"So this planet is not unified?" It sure explained why this planet was in such a sad state. "What country am I now in?"

"Th—the United States."

"Is the United States run by the military?"

The more questions this man asked, the less afraid the boy became. It was becoming aware that he was more interested in learning about Earth rather than hurting him. "W—Well, we have a military, but the politicians basically runs things."

Politicians, just the word made him sick to the stomach. Politicians brought about the end of Krypton. Politicians tricked him into killing his family; he hated them with a passion.

His mission was now clear. He was going to have to from country to country and terrorize them into submission. He will get to exercise his power while, at the same time, will show the countries that they had no choice but to unite under him. His final stop will be here in the United States where he will give Kal-El the option to join him or get out of his way. Darkseid was coming, and if this planet did not unite under him in a military ruled government, then it would meet the same fate as Krypton.


	20. Heartbreaking Decision

**Chapter 20: Heartbreaking Decision**

He had Superman on the verge of defeat, but his demise was only part of what Brainiac needed to accomplish; Lord Darkseid was coming to Earth regardless. He was going to do more than merely defeat him; he was going to tarnish his name in the mind of these people. They had to know that Superman was the one who brought the planet's destruction. If his plan worked, Superman will hand the planet over to Darkseid out of his own free will. The people of Earth would, forever, remember the one who betrayed and sold them into slavery.

For this to happen, he had to understand this planet better, and find out where that central nerve was. Once he located it, all he had to do was squeeze, and everything would fall into place. This would be Superman's greatest defeat, and Darkseid's greatest victory.

He returned to what remained of his shuttle. He had dismantled most of it, earlier, to build the portal into the Phantom Zone. That portal served to save Zod from his prison, but as a result, it blew up after just one use. Enough of it survived, however, for him to use and search through Earth's history and find the one bit of information to make this all happen.

* * *

><p>As Lois sat on the sidewalk bench, she could hardly recognized what she was becoming. She was sitting on a bench across the street from the restaurant, spying on Clark's dinner with Lana. This type of behavior was beyond reprehensible, and she began to wonder how she sunk to this level?<p>

When Clark left work to go on his dinner date with Lana, Lois would have sworn that another person took control of her body. Before she knew it, she followed him to this Chinese Buffet restaurant. Now, she was spying on Clark's dinner from across the street. She had always mocked pathetic women who chased after men for fear of living a life of solitude. She had always claimed that she didn't need a man to make her happy, but everything she was now doing was saying otherwise. She was acting like one of those lonely, desperate women, and it was making her sick.

As she sat at on the bench, she watched Clark converse with Lana, sitting at the table right in front of the window. She was not very good at lip reading, but reading faces was another matter all together. She could tell by the expressions on their faces that they were still in the middle of small talk. Clark was yet to push her for the truth, and Lois could tell that everything that she had warned him about, earlier, was still fresh on his mind. She had no doubt about the truth coming out on this date; what she was not sure about was the consequences that would follow.

* * *

><p>Once again, Lana Lang was breathtakingly beautiful. Dressed in a black gown that wrapped tightly around every curve of her body; obviously she dressed provocatively to draw his gaze. She was very much as beautiful as she was back in her high school years. Time had done nothing to alter her beauty.<p>

Having arrived early, he had time to think about his earlier conversation with Lois, as well with the conflicting emotions that he was feeling. The When Lana entered the restaurant, he nearly made a huge blunder, and called her Lois. As beautiful as she was, it was Lois' face that his soul was expecting to see every time a woman crossed his line of sight. Even the strange woman sitting on the bench across the street looked like Lois to him. With Lois always on his mind, there was no mistaking what was in his heart. As much as he wanted to rekindle a relationship with Lana, his heart no longer belonged to her.

Now, here Lana was, sitting across from him, and he still could not get Lois out of his thoughts. Lana could not help notice how distracted he was. "So, are we just gonna sit here, and continue making small talk for the rest of this meal, or are you gonna tell me what's been on your mind?"

Clark had tried to think of a non-condemning way to start this conversation, so not to cause her to go on the defense. He did not want her to feel as if he was accusing her of wrong doing. After all, she had no idea that he was Superman; there was no way for her to know that this plan would harm him. However, this audacious plan of theirs will hurt more than just him. "Is it true, that you've made a weapon with General Lane that will saturate this planet with Kryptonite dust?"

"I'm sorry," Lana replied, putting down her fork, a little shaken by the question. "I wasn't under the impression that this dinner was of a professional nature."

"It's not. This has nothing to do with Daily Planet. This is about you."

"About me? Okay, I'll bite," She picked up her fork again. "Yes, I did it to save the corporation from bankruptcy. I sold all of Lex Luthor's Kryptonite stockpiles to the U.S. Military under General Lane. We have also agreed to help set up a failsafe weapon in case of a hostile invasion of others like Superman."

Clark had to be careful not to expose himself. The plan to saturate earth with Kryptonite will have a major side effect that neither Lana nor General Lane had considered. Not only would it kill him, but most of the Earth's population would grow deathly ill and perish. Human anatomy could not handle being saturated in Kryptonite dust. "That's all fine and good, but what about Superman, himself?"

"I'm sure General Lane will make this weapon a weapon-of-last-resort."

"You really don't know the General too well, do you? Yes, he is a decorated American hero, and an honorable man, but his views on Superman are a little off." Clark hated to lie, but he had to do it; it was the only way to protect his identity plus make her see the dangers of their plan. "I know you told Lois about this, and she started to do some digging."

"Lois?"

"Yes, she went to S.T.A.R Labs and asked some questions on the issue. They believe that the kryptonite dust could be fatal to humans in large doses." Professor Hamilton would have to research it himself if Lana ever called him to confirm this story, but he would come to the same conclusion. After this dinner, he was going to have to tell the professor to do the research so he could continue to hide his idenity.

"What? Are you sure?"

"You mean, you didn't do the research on the matter before going through with this?"

Lana gave him a disgusted look. "You think I'd risk the lives of everyone on this planet just to save this corporation? You know better than anyone that I'm not like Lex Luthor; that's not who I am."

And as he feared, the conversation was turning to the worse. "No, I don't think you did this intentionally."

"You think I'm turning into another Lex Luthor! After all these years, and you don't know me better than that?"

"No, I don't, but I don't think you fully understand the full tenacity of Lex. He was not the same innocent boy that we knew in elementary school. In many ways, he has outdone his father. Who's not to say that he had not planned for all of this to happen as a way to strike back at Superman?"

"Clark, he's dead; he can't do anything anymore."

Clark wished he could believe that. That fact that he recruited his former girlfriend the moment he disappeared was more than enough evidence that Lex thought on multi-levels. It made perfect sense if Lex had set all of this in motion in case of his demise. Saturating the planet with Kryptonite would be his final act of revenge.

"I doubt even death would stop Lex from manipulating Lexcorp."

Lana wanted to say that he was being over-anxious, but she could not explain several signs that might prove that there was some truth to some Of Clark's concerns. The holographic message from the former CEO that she ran across when she found that hidden office addressed her by name. How did he know that she would be selected by the board to replace him?

"I must go. If this is true, then we'll scrap this whole agreement, I promise you." Lana prepared to stand up. She hated to leave in the middle of a dinner date, but this was an issue that she demanded her immediate attention.

"Wait," Clark said quickly. This was probably not the best time to bring this up, but he might as well pull the bandage off quickly and get it over with. He had made. "While that Kryptonite weapon is important, there's something we should talk about and I suppose now is as good of a time as any to talk about this."

"Uh oh, somehow I don't think this is going to be good," Lana sat back in her chair. While she said that with a slight tint of sarcasm, she still had a gut feeling that she was not going to like what he was about to say.

Clark took a deep swallow as he fought the butterflies that were rioting in his stomach. He did not want to hurt her again. "Listen, I've given this a lot of thought the past several days. What we had is something I will always cherish. It's really been great to catch up these past few days, but I really think it's for both of our best interests that—"

There was no hiding the heartbreak that she was feeling. Deep down inside, there was a part of her that was hoping that things would work out this time; but now, it was all coming to abrupt halt once again. "You're doing it again. You're breaking up with me."

The look on her face was heart wrenching. This was exactly the reason he left the note at the doorstep years ago instead of breaking up with her face-to-face. Back then, he did not have the courage as he did now. Seeing this reaction almost made him wish that he took the coward's way out again. "When I saw you again, there was a part of me that was hoping to rekindle what we once had, but let's admit it; we're both two different people now."

"Oh my god; it's Lois. You're in love with her."

This time, it was Clarks turn to be shocked. How did she figure that out? The relationship they had in public would not lead anyone to that kind of conclusion. Anyone who observed the two of them interacting would think exactly the opposite. "Wait… what?"

"It's true, isn't it? Even though she's infatuated with Superman, you still love her. I know you well enough to read it in your face that I'm right. I just don't understand why you're willing to give up on another chance of us for a woman who's stuck in a school-girl crush with someone who you can't even begin to compete with."

If Superman was another person, than she would be right; he would not even be able to compete. Luckily, he was only in competition with himself; but still, it would be nice to get Lois to love him for being Clark Kent, not Superman. "Maybe I am fooling myself, but there's more to this than just her. My life is really complicated."

Hearing those words again made her sick to her stomach. To her, they were a copout from telling her the truth. All the way up to high school, Clark had been an open book. She was able to understand him and any surprises that he threw at her were pleasant and exciting. The Clark that was sitting across from her was mysterious and secretive. "You've said that before. I'm beginning to think that's become your excuse to hide from the truth: You're afraid of commitment. Perhaps you're more interested in chasing after someone unattainable so you can fool yourself into thinking that you're not."

Lana stood up from the table. "You're right about one thing, Clark; you _HAVE_ changed, but it wasn't for the better." She threw her napkin onto the table and stormed out of the restaurant.


	21. Retaliation

**Chapter 21: Reconsideration**

If he studied this planet's geography correctly, he was now flying over Italy. This was Zod's fourth 'country' that he was about to make his presence felt. He had gone from one country to the next demonstrating his power to the people. If he was to lead a united planet, they had to realize that they had no choice to submit to him. Destroying popular landmarks, killing a number of innocent civilians, and causing catastrophic damage would all get the attentions of the leaders of this planet. In the end, Superman joining his cause would finalize all of his hard work.

His first stop was in very populated, but militarily strong, country the people of Earth called China. The military was quick to reply when he attacked one of their mega-cities. He found them to be an arrogant group of people who, until his appearance, thought they were the superior people. They did come at him with promising aggression and impressive weapons, but they were still useless against a god-like figure as himself. To finish his message to the people of China, he attacked the long wall which they appeared to cherish. When Zod was done with it, half of it was in utter ruins.

From there, he flew a long distance to a much smaller country called Egypt. Their weapons were embarrassingly useless for the most part; they did conger up a few fighter jets. The death toll was very minimal in comparison to China. There were fewer people around the countries famous landmarks like the dirt pyramids and a strange dirt statue of a hybrid, which had the body of some type of crouching animal and the face of a human, missing his nose. Now, it was missing much more than just a nose.

His reign of terror went north-bound to a country called France. Here, the casualty rate increased once more. They put up a little more resistance than Egypt, but they failed utterly, none-the-less. Causing massive damage to their cities and a huge steel monument, they were no match again him.

That brought him to where he was now: a small country by the name of Italy. He could see that the news of his actions in the other countries had already preceded him there. Upon seeing him flying overhead, the people of Italy were running to take shelter. His job was nearing completion; when he finished here, he could return to Metropolis and give Kal-El a chance to join him.

Zod hovered down to the ground, landing in the heart of a round stone building that looked ancient. A portion of it was already in ruin; from what, Zod could only guess. It looked like it used to be some sort of sporting arena, based on the seating layout. Whatever it used to be, it did not matter to him; what did matter was all the visitors here that were about to be in harm's way.

Since going on this journey, he had practiced his god-like abilities, and in the process, he had gotten stronger. The destruction he was capable of doing was growing rapidly. It was time, yet again, to exercise those abilities. He unleashed his full force behind his heat vision, which he aimed towards the sides of the ancient arena. The wall exploded, throwing large fragments of the ancient building in all directions.

The people ran, for their lives, away from the explosion and the pursuing carnage. For an unfortunate few, any attempt to escape was more than futile. As Zod continued to destroy this ancient building, the more frantic to escape they became.

The building proved to be sturdier than it appeared; he needed a better way to bring it down. He hovered upward a few feet as he crossed his arms in front of him. This move he discovered in China while exploring all of his capabilities. This trick he learned turned out to be perfect for causing massive damage in a short time. The weather was a factor on how deadly this maneuver was, and the current weather condition of Italy was ripe enough to make it utterly destructive.

He spun himself around rapidly, like a tornado. In seconds, a wind funnel formed around him, which slowly increased in size, and started to stretch up towards the clouds. It took little effort to get the clouds to start spinning. Once they started rotating, the funnel became self-sustaining. Zod stopped spinning and flew a safe distance away from the newly formed tornado as it strengthened.

The twister continued to gain in strength as it began to rip the coliseum to shreds. Guiding it with a strong blow from his lips, he pushed it from the center of the arena and towards the far wall. The Brick, marble, and stone mixed wall collapsed even before the funnel reached it, clearing a path for it to reach the streets of Italy.

Chaos immediately swept over the streets. Cars were crashing everywhere as the panicked crowed ran into the streets to avoid the giant twister. Blinded by their fear, several people were hit by cars that could not stop in time to avoid them.

As the twister reached outside the ruined coliseum, it began to weaken and quickly disintegrated. The damage it caused in its wake was underwhelming to what Zod had wanted and expected. Clearly, there was more to creating weather phenomena on this planet than he had realized.

As disappointing as it was, he realized that he had still done more than enough damage to get his point across. He has exercised his powers as much as he could; now, it was time to return to the United States and confront Kal-El. The son of Jor-El will either join him, or he will watch as Zod destroyed his precious city. Zod had no doubt that his strength was still not up to par in comparison to Kal-el's, so beating him physically was not going to be the answer. In the mind was where Zod had the advantage, and where he would win the battle.

The world will unite under him, one way or another. He will turn the armies of this world into a terrifying force that even Darkseid would fear. Under his leadership, Zod would become the greatest leader in all of galaxy. Krypton maybe gone forever, but this was now his home. General Zod was back in charge once again.

* * *

><p>Lana sat at her desk, contemplating what had recently transpired. She had no explanation why she felt so bad about Clark ending things between them. She had been bitter towards Clark for how he disappeared on her years ago; she never thought she would find herself emotionally involved with him again. Over the past few days, her feelings of bitterness had somehow changed; there was something about his characteristic that made it impossible for her to stay angry at him. Without realizing it, she had been starting to fall for him again.<p>

She now found herself heartbroken for a second time. Their lives had taken separate paths, that were too different for them to continue where they left off. Clark's heart now belonged to Lois Lane, something she could not comprehend.

Lois and Clark had clashing personalities. They were polar opposites; there was no way a relationship between them would work out. What was going on in Clark's head to make him think that Lois would ever be interesting in him? Lois was too self-absorbed and self-promoting to even notice someone as mild-mannered as him. Why was Clark willing to chase after her, even though she would likely only use him to better her career and then squash him like a bug? It just did not compute.

"Ms. Lang," General Lane announced his presence when Lana's secretary opened the office door.

Lana had almost forgotten about her secretary's page, announcing the General's desire to see her. This visit could not have come at a worse time; she had not had enough time to research Clark's claim about the Kryptonite dust being harmful to humans. She had no doubt that the General was here to announce that Operation Dustcloud was ready; she could not suggest putting the operation on hold due to unconfirmed facts, even if they did come from Clark.

"What can I do for you, General?"

"I have direct orders from the Department of Homeland Security and the Secretary General, that Operation Dustcloud is a go."

"I think we should hold off on exploding the stockpiles until more research is done. It has come to my attention that the kryptonite dust may be hazardous to humans."

"Please, I'm in no mood for jokes. We have another alien flying across the globe, causing catastrophic damage and piling up many casualties. We need to act now before he makes his way back to the United States."

"I'm not joking, General. If there is even a remote chance that the Kryptonite dust can prove fatal to even one person, then we need to find another way to stop him. Let Superman—"

"No," the general snapped. "It's not his job to assure the security of our country; he's nothing more than a vigilante. I will not be outdone by an alien freak."

"And with all due respect, General, I will not allow this operation to go through unless I am certain that it is safe."

General Lane looked down at her scornfully. She no longer had the authority to stop this operation; however, he was willing to play along for a minute or two. "How did you come across this information?"

"Clark Kent of the Daily Planet informed me that someone from S.T.A.R Labs had made this discovery."

"And how did they come to the knowledge about this operation?"

"I believe Lois told them," she replied.

"My daughter? Lois has been corrupted by the liberal media; she's been so infatuated with him, that she'll make up lies just to protect him. Never trust a news anchor or a newspaper reporter to tell you the truth."

"Perhaps, but if there's any chance that this may be true, we need to know for sure," Lana stood her ground. She was not going to be intimidated by the general.

"Your concerns are noted; however, we don't have the time to waist. We're now facing a menace that is a huge threat to our national security. The stockpiles will be detonated the moment they are ready; We'll hope for the best."


	22. Revelations

**Chapter 22: Revelations**

Mercy Graves found an email in her inbox; it was from her source on the inside of Lexcorp. It was about time that things started to come together. She clicked message and opened it up on her Laptop screen. It was mostly an update on what's been happening. Operation Dustcloud was nearing completion, but Miss Lang was starting to question the operation. Mercy knew General Lane well enough that he was not going to stop the operation no matter what Miss Lang did; she was a weakling, unworthy of her title.

Thanks to another source, she had found a way to make Operation Dustcloud a major failure; she was not about to let any harm come to Zod, the one man who can kill Superman. The plan that she had devised would not only stop Operation Dustcloud, but give the new Kryptonian more strength to stand up against Superman.

She was about to close the email until she noticed the attachment icon at the top of the message. She clicked on it to see a PDF file was attached to the email. Her source said that he had found notes hand written by Lex Luthor. He had found these notes hidden in the old top-story office and scanned them into the PDF file. He promised that he had not read the notes, but figured that she would want to take a look at them. She had no idea if he was telling the truth, but that was a matter for a later time.

She opened the PDF file and read through the notes. What she found in the notes was an answer to her prayers. It was the one piece of information that would prove her loyalty to the hostile Kryptonian. Somehow, Lex Luthor had discovered the secret identity of Superman, and it was the last person on Earth whom she thought it would be. Superman was none other than Lex's former best friend, Clark Kent. With this information, Zod could not only draw Superman to him, but have the advantage over him in battle.

* * *

><p>Lois could not come up with one good answer as to why she still felt the need to follow Clark around. After his dinner ended abruptly, she knew that the relationship between him and Lana was over. The way it ended and the way Clark was acting, there was no doubt about it. She was plagued with guilt for feeling a little relieved that it was over. She never did like Lana Lang in the first place.<p>

She supposed that a part of her wanted to see if he was going to be alright. She followed him as he took a solitary walk through the park. After suffering such heart ache, he obviously wanted to walk out some of his frustration. She can see the stress he was under through his mannerisms as he walked.

As he walked through the park, he came to a water fountain. It was a three layer water fountain with a naked cherub at the very top. Clark stopped at the fountain where he sat down on the lip of the bottom level. Lois remained well hidden as she continued to watch over him. "Lois, you are pathetic," she whispered to herself.

She had come to the end of her insanity. She could just sit here and spy on him any longer; it made her feel dirty. Instead, she wanted to do something that was equally crazy; she wanted to go to him, confess, and console him. These games had to end. She had to stop lying to herself and face the truth; she was in love with him. She was in love with Clark Kent of Smallville.

She was at a lost at what to do first; she was completely out of her comfort zone. She had never fallen for anyone in her life; how to act was something she had never learned, especially being raised by a military father. She has always had men salivating around her, but even in high school, her desire to be the best reporter in the world came first. She never had time for romance.

As she fought with her conflicting emotions, she could sense Clark's growing frustration in his body movement. The frustration boiled over and he pounded his fist on the stone lip of the fountain. The stone cracked and nearly shattered underneath his fist.

"What the…" Lois stumbled backwards, and tripped on her own feet. She found herself sitting the grass in shock. Did she just see what she thought she saw?

Clark realized the mistake he had just made and quickly jumped to his feet. He quickly departed the scene, pretending as if nothing had happend. He made his way out the park, figuring he needed to blow off some steam somewhere else.

With Clark gone, Lois came out of hiding and rand straight for the fountain to inspect the damage. There was no question about it: this damage was new. Sweeping her hand across the crack, she knew that this was real stone; impossible to break by a mere mortal pounding a fist on it.

Could it be him? All this time, could Superman really pull of a clever second identity like Clark Kent? Clark was nearly the polar opposite. While Clark walked with a slight curve in the lower back, which was typical for your average male, Superman's back was perfectly straight. The slight hunch actually made Clark look smaller in comparison.

If Clark Kent was Superman, then it was the perfect disguise she had ever seen. Not once did she ever remember him slipping out of character, but Superman mental capacity may be greater than the normal humans. Perhaps, his disguise was not all that hard for him.

More and more questions flooded her brain. She had no idea what to make of all of this. She had no idea whether to be angry with Clark or not. A part of her wanted to be, for all the lies he told her. The other part of her felt guilty. As Clark Kent, she had been rather dismissive of him. He was inept, kind of nerdy, and socially awkward; he was the type of person that most people would ignore. As Superman, he was the type of man that all women dreamed about meeting. If he had Superman, why did he even need Clark Kent in the first place? The more she asked herself that question, the more she began to wonder: was it because of her?

* * *

><p>Lois was in her skyrise apartment; her mind was still reeling about what she had seen a few hours ago. How to handle the discovery was a decision that still eluded her. She was contemplating if she should tell Clark that she knew the truth or if she should wait for him to tell her when he was ready. She had never been so confused about anything, in her life.<p>

From the corner of her eye, she could see a figure standing on the balcony porch. There was no mistaking who it was. He stood there with his red cape flapping in the light breeze but a warm, gentle smile on his face.

She decided to pretend as if nothing happened. Perhaps she could encourage him to tell him the truth. Trying to walk with a slight agitated tinge to it, she went to the wall made completely of windows, and opened the glass door leading to the balcony. "So, you finally have the time to see me. For a while, I thought you were intentionally trying to ignore me."

"I apologize for making you feel that way, Lois," he replied in a soft toned voice. "I must admit, that I have been rather distracted as of late."

"I bet," Lois replied, unable to get the image of Lana Lang out of her mind. "Let me guess… you've been busy tracking this rogue Kryptonian and this crazed robot from hell."

"I have; that is not what has kept me distracted," he replied. "I have had a lot on my mind, lately. I am not used to being so uncertain about things."

"You are human, aren't you… sort of speaking?" Lois replied. "Who hasn't been confused at one point or another? My life hasn't been a bed of roses lately, recently, either."

"Really? I always took you for an extremely decisive woman," he replied with a playful smirk on his face.

Lois quickly became defensive. "And I am… normally."

"Then perhaps we should do something that may clear our heads a bit," he replied, stretching his hand out.

Lois looked down at his hand, and knew what he was suggesting. "Are you serious?" For some reason, it did not feel appropriate to take a flight with him at this time. Her instinct was to sit alone in a quite atmosphere, when she needed time to sort things out. Going out on another flight with Superman seemed more of a distraction from her problems; and she was not one who allowed herself to get distracted until her problem was solved.

"I find a good night-time flight through the country is good at clearing the mind."

She took his hand, having learned to trust him on a countless number of times. At the very moment, she wanted to desperately tell him that she knew his identity. Has he gently guided her to his side, his presence again was enough to make her tremble. Even knowing that he was Clark Kent did not subside the intimidation of being in his presence.

"Hold on."

He held her firmly into his side with his left arm as stretched his right arm up above his head. This was not her first flight with him, but the sensation of her feet lifting off the balcony was just as unsettling as the first time. After the initial takeoff, however, the fear subsided and the enjoyment began.

Superman started their flight slightly above the city of Metropolis. They were low enough to see the lights of the cars driving through the streets, but high enough so no one the ground could identify her with him. It was amazing how beautiful Metropolis was at night in comparison to the day time. The city lit up was very impressive display which adequately hid the filth and despair of the city.

As they flew out of the city, everything went dark. She could barely see the outline of the forest below her. Their only light was from the bright and sparkly stars on this perfectly cloudless night. It felt almost as if she was flying in space; it was a magical feeling that was made even more special by knowing that she was sharing it with not just Superman, but Clark Kent.

The forest gave way to a large lake, which made the journey even more spectacular. She had no idea if they were heading north or south. Determining how fast they were going was impossible when flying over a body of water, but that did not matter to her at that moment.

She had no idea how long they had been flying, or where he was taking them; their final destination was no longer important. She was more than happy just being held by him. In his arms, all her troubles seemed to be trivial. All she knew was that this felt right.

Their final destiny was revealed as they were speedily approaching Mount Rushmore. She held tightly on to him as he hovered slowly downward onto the head of George Washington. When their feet touched the stone, Lois gained enough courage to let go.

Lois shielded her eyes from the spot lights that illuminated the Presidents' faces. It was a majestic sight standing on top of one of the heads of the famous American landmarks. Superman smiled as he watched her enjoy the scenery around them. He always did enjoy sharing these moments with her… allowing her to see the world as he saw it. "What do you think?"

"It's absolutely beautiful up here!"

"No, you're absolutely beautiful." Superman did not mean to be so forward, but seeing her highlighted by the spot lights from the ground caused him to forget himself. She was the most exquisite woman he had laid his eyes on. His heart, truly, belonged to her.

Lois smiled. She was madly in love with him, both as Superman and Clark Kent. Trying to hide it was now nearly impossible. He is the first man that had won her heart. "You were right; this did clear my mind."

"My mind has never been any clearer," He responded, as his eyes gazed deeply into hers.

She found herself being drawn towards him like a piece of metal to a magnet. She could not look away even if she wanted to. She pressed her body into his, and before she knew it, they had each other in a tight embrace. She looked up into his handsome blue eyes as he lowered his face towards her. She closed her eyes as his lips pressed against hers.

She found herself swept away into euphoria. Pressed against her own, his lips felt better than she could have ever imagined. The passion between them exploded like a nuclear explosion that had been contained for way too long. It was the moment both of them had dreamed about for months, and at long last, had finally become a reality.


	23. Enemy's Preperation

**Chapter 23: The Enemy s Preparation**

General Zod was back in America, pushing his way back towards Smallville. The quest to locate Kal-El had begun. Capturing his earthly mother would get his attention quick enough. Trying to find him any other way would prove futile; he actually hid among these weak willed people of Earth. He was embarrassed of his true nature. He wanted so much to live among these insects, that he was denying his true Kryptonian legacy.

He was now flying over a large field of corn husks when a loud, high pitched squeal nearly startled him out of the sky. Within the tone, a feminine voice made echoed through his ears. "Zod... that is your name, isn't it?"

"Who is this?" Zod stopped flying and hovered in place. "How dare you, an insignificant life form, address me in this manner!"

"I mean you no harm; on the contrary, I admire what you are trying to do. I, too, want to see Superman die for the crimes he's committed against this planet."

"You are a fool! I do not wish to kill my fellow Kryptonian. How dare you speak ill of someone of my own kind. I shall find you, and punish you for your insolence. I will not have any harm before Superman; he will bow before me and together, we will rule this planet."

"I meant no offense towards your people, my lord. All I want is to serve you. I want to help you, no matter what your goals are."

Zod was growing tired of this conversation. He had indulged this life form for longer than he should have. "Show yourself, and I shall make your death as painless as possible. You have nothing of value to offer me that would persuade me to spare your life."

"I beg for your indulgence for just a little longer, my lord," the voice replied. "I do have something of great value to offer you. I wish to present it to you in person."

"Very well, I will hear what you have to offer, but if I am not impressed, I shall tear you limb from limb."

"I am directly beneath you, at the very edge of this corn field." The high squealing disappeared in his ears stopped and the voice disappeared. His patience was already thin, having been delayed in his quest. This Earth woman better have something of great value to give him for this distraction.

General Zod followed the directions down towards the end of this farm land. A woman dressed in black stood there, waiting. Just by the look of her, he could see that she was different from other women of this earth. She had a beauty that would drive, even a Kryptonian, wild. There was fear in her eyes; something that he did not fault her with, but there was something more there as well. Her eyes revealed treachery. She had a motive to what she was doing, and she needed his help for something. Even though he hated being used as a pawn for someone else's amusement, he had to admire her audacity. There was something about this woman that he liked.

General Zod landed in front of her with his arms folded in front of him. Despite how much he liked her, he demanded respect. If there was no proper respect on her part, than everything else about her did not matter. "You may address me, from this point on, as General Zod ... if you value your life."

"General," Mercy greeted him as she knelt down on one knee.

She had just scored some points in her favor for kneeling before him. "For an Earth woman, you are very beautiful, but that will not spare you my wrath if you fail to give me something of value."

"Understood, General," she replied, standing on her feet again. "You are looking for Superman … I know how to get him to come to you."

"You waist my time, woman. I already know how to get his attention."

"I know everything about him; my former boss was a very intelligent man. Superman has a secret identity; he goes by the name Clark Kent. He works at the daily planet, and is in love with a woman named Lois Lane."

"Interesting that you were able to find all this out, but I have already located his earth mother. If you truly knew everything about Kryptonian, you would know that we value family more than anything else," General Zod replied.

"Superman has grown up here on earth, perhaps he sees himself more human than Kryptonian. All I know is that he and Lois Lane have been virtually inseparable."

"You dare insult me, even when I am standing right here and can kill you instantly? " His patience for the woman was waning. Even though he knew that she was right, it was still insulting to hear coming from the mouth of and Earthling. "We're finished here, you have nothing of value."

Mercy smiled, still showing no signs of fear even when she was flirting with her own death. She had something else in mind. She was using doing what the earth people called 'beating around the bush'. She had something of more value, and she was saving it if all else failed. Well, he was going to force her to tell him everything, whether she intended to or not.

"There's more. I know the reason you didn't succeed against him last time. Your strength comes from the radiation of the yellow sun, and he's been on this planet far longer than you, my lord. If you will spare my life and allow me to help you, I can not only offer you Superman on a silver platter, but I can increase your strength to its fullest potential in an instant. "

Zod was confused by this 'silver platter' but he understood enough to get the gist of what she was saying. She was offering him a way to acquire full strength, without having to wait years for it to come to him naturally. His instinct about this woman was correct; there was something special about her. "Answer me this: why are you willing to do this for me? What will you get out of this?"

"I'm attracted to powerful men," Mercy replied, posing seductively for the Kryptonian. "Powerful men should be making the rules on this planet, and there's none as powerful as you."

General Zod smiled; he liked what he was seeing. She was easy on the eyes, but had the heart of a viper. "You have caught my attention, and if you pull through with this, then I will make you queen, and you shall rule by my side."

* * *

><p>Carl Hammer sat around the large round table, listening to his college's opinions. As Secretary of Defense, he was charged with the responsibility to help keep this country safe. While everyone was busy worrying about Iran getting nukes, something more pressing was on his mind. His worries lie with the recent invasion of two aliens who clearly did not have peaceful attention. Why wasn't this the number one priority at this meeting? They had at least a year or two before Iran would get their hands on nukes, but this alien threat was the here and now; how come no one realized it yet?<p>

General Lane had come to him about a plan to saturate the planet with Kryptonite dust; he named it Operation Dust Cloud. The plan was ingenious, and he had pressed the President of the United States to launch this operation. At first, the President was against it. He, like most Americans, had put his faith into Superman. Carl knew that it was a mistake; the people of this country needed to depend upon their government for protection, not an alien vigilante who seemed more interested in privatizing world peace. National security should not be left in the hands of any one individual.

When the two new aliens started causing chaos around the world, POTUS finally came to his senses and gave permission to launch Operation Dust Cloud. Since then, very little mention of the alien menaces were made. Could it be that most of his colleagues still clung to hope, that Superman could stop this threat? Even if he was able to this time, who was to say that a bigger threat did not come down the road? Would he be successful then? What would happen if he ever failed?

As he sulked, sitting in his chair and listening to everyone talk about Iran, the meeting came to an abrupt end when they heard the sound of an explosion. "What was that?"

A siren echoed through the war room, and everyone leaped out of their chairs in alarm. There were few still present who was there when the siren last sounded at the Pentagon on September eleventh. Those few could still remember the fear that they felt on that day, the day that America was attacked. "The Pentagon is under attack!" A soldier screamed, running into the war room. "Evacuate the premise!"

* * *

><p>Brainiac was attacked immediately upon nearing the Pentagon. He was not surprised by this, nor was he worried. The humans could throw anything they wanted at him, but their efforts would only result in their deaths. Dozens of military soldiers were standing in his way, shooting their annoying automatic weapons at him; the bullets only bounced off him, harmlessly.<p>

He fired the lasers in his eyes, and a handful of soldiers were immediately incinerated into ash. He repeated the attack, killing several more. The one thing he admired about these ignorant fools was that they were not afraid to die defending the Pentagon. Retreat was not in their vocabulary. These soldiers were men of valor, but they were about to be destroyed none-the-less.

A large armored vehicle entered the fight, firing its giant canon in his direction. An explosion erupted just in front of him as the shockwave jumped at him, followed by a wall of flames. Neither had done him any arm, and he could almost read the horrific expressions on the soldiers as he emerged, unscathed, by the attack.

Brainiac pointed his right palm at the armored vehicle and unleashed a white beam at it. The tank started to cave in on itself until it erupted in flames. The explosion caused a group of soldiers to scatter, who had not expected it to be taken out so easy.

The sound of the sky ripping echoed all around him. He looked up to the sky to see a military jet scouting the action from the sky. After assessing the situation, it made a full circle and made another pass. This time, scouting was not on the agenda. It fired two rockets at him, and the next thing he knew, he was in the middle of a fire storm.

In retaliation, the android fired beams from his eyes, clipping one of its wings. Flames rose from where the wing once was as it spiraled out of control. Crossing the lake, the flaming jet crashed into the top of the Washington Monument like a missile. A giant explosion rocked D.C., as flames engulfed the top of the monument. Cracks formed all around it, and within seconds, the entire monument crumbled to the ground.

As Brainiac neared the Pentagon building, the military soldiers found a way to circle around him. After everything he had done, the soldiers were ignorant enough to try something this foolish? The Earthlings were acting as if they had him trapped; in actuality, they had done nothing but forfeited their lives to him.

He stretched his arms out and two coils lunged out of each wrist. The metal coils made quick work of the soldiers, by quickly disarming them, then disposing them. His advanced robotic brain allowed him to control all four coils at the same time. While one would break the neck of one soldier with a hard slap, another would wrap itself around another soldier and electrocute them. His brain was capable of focusing on up to eight different tasks simultaneously.

Down to two more soldiers, one of his coils swung the corpse of another and used it, as a weapon, to kill them. Free to commence to his target, he retracted the coils and approached the building. With a solid punch, the stone wall shattered upon impact. Dust from the shattered stones and bricks hovered around the hole as he entered the highly restricted building. Once inside, he was greeted with a rocket launcher attack from a single military soldier.

Brainiac fired a series of sonic waves from his forehead, causing the rocket to explode half-way between them, and throwing the flames of the explosion back at the soldier. The cries of soldier filled the hallway as the flames engulfed the poor soldier. Leaving the soldier to his torturous death, the android pressed on and plowed through another wall. He continued to plow deeper and deeper into the Pentagon towards the war room.

* * *

><p>The War Room was quickly flooded with heavily armed military soldiers as the room was evacuated. The building was rumbling almost as if a wrecking ball was having its way with it. The rumbling was getting closer, and Carl knew that this was very bad. Never has any attacker gotten this deep into the Pentagon. This was clearly more than just a terrorist attack; it was an alien attack.<p>

A handful of soldiers were ushering he and the other officials out the War room like cattle. As the rumblings got louder and more violent, the soldiers were starting urging them to go faster. They knew, as Carl did, that the War Room was where the intruder was heading.

A wall at the far end of the War Room shattered, throwing large pieces of debris into the room. The soldiers wasted no times in unleashing all of their fire power. The soldiers, who were guiding the leaders of the Pentagon out of the room, went to their comrades to help in the attack. Carl was nearing the exit when he saw those brave men being tossed around the room as if they were nothing more than paper dolls. He reached the exit, and gave one final look back at the action. It was the robotic alien that was attacking them.

Seeing this monstrosity decimate some of the Militaries best warriors brought a sudden realization to his mind: Operation Dust Cloud would probably not work on this type of enemy. General lane had to be informed of this development. There was probably one weapon that the U.S. had at their disposal that might work against an alien android.

* * *

><p>Brainiac destroyed every last soldier in the War Room. They died trying to protect the leaders of this country, but they were never his target from the start. Everything he wanted was in this very room.<p>

He made his way to the main terminal. He hovered his right hand over the main terminal. His finger tips detached from his hand and penetrated the terminal, giving him full control of this nation's mainframe. Using his mind, he raced through all the top secret information that this country protected. Most of it, he could care less about, but it did not take him long to find what he was coming for.

"Ah, there they are! The activation codes!" He had found the right system that contained the codes to every nuclear missiles and bombs in the United States. From there, he was able to hack into the systems of other countries, and acquire their codes. Within ten minutes, he had control of every nuclear weapon in the world.


	24. The Trap is Set

**Chapter 24: The Trap is Set**

Lana was at a lost about what to do. General Lane had refused to even consider her request to put operation Dust Cloud on hold. How could a man of his authority take such a risk with the lives of innocent people all over the world? He utterly dismissed the possibility, that there could be a danger in unleashing the Kryptonite dust; he was more interested in being the one who saved the country instead of someone else like Superman.

She had tried to contact S.T.A.R Labs to try to find out the truth, but any attempt to get a hold of Professor Hamilton had failed. She had no idea where else to go to find the information; after all, this was not something you could just google.

Leaning back in her chair, her mind was reeling trying to figure out the puzzle that was presented to her. When she took this job, she never imagined it being this hard. It felt like some unknown force was setting its will against her. Perhaps she was being paranoid, but having worked under a man like Lex Luthor would have that affect on a person. Somehow, a part of him still felt alive; she could almost swear that she felt his presence in this building.

Stuck in her mental block, her thoughts were interrupted by a musical five-note chime from her computer. On the monitor, a red circle with the number '1' in the center appeared over the hyperlink to her email inbox. Grateful for the distraction, she clicked on her inbox and read the new email message.

It was from someone who went by the name 'M'-period-Graves. She had no idea who this person was, but the subject heading quickly grabbed her attention. It said:

_IMPORTANT: Luthor's missing secret file!_

She had viewed many secret files that Lex had hidden in various formats and locations. It was some of those 'secret' files that directed her to Operation Dust Cloud. Of course, there were some files that needed to be erased or shredded, which came to no surprise to her. She felt it was her responsibility to read these files to help pave a way for a more honest Lexcorp. She had no desire to be caught off guard by anything Lex might have done in the past to bring repercussions against the corporation today.

She had no idea if this source was trustworthy or not, but she was willing to risk it. She opened the email, which had no text to it at all. She clicked on the attachment which had a .PDF extension. She opened the document and to find scanned images of hand written notes written in Lex Luthor's handwriting.

It was a fascinating read, to say the least. It was a mixture of scientific notes and journal entries. She came upon a section solely focused on Clark. It quickly became apparent that since Clark came to Metropolis, Lex had become obsessed over him, and not in a flattering way, either. She thought he was best friends with Clark, but these types of journal entries showed that he wasn't reciprocating that friendship.

She read this portion of the notes with great care. Something inside of her told her that this was what she needed to read. She could feel it in her gut, that their complex relationship would answer a great number of questions. She came to a page with two head-shot photos. One was of Clark Kent wearing a tan fedora hat. There was no mistaking that the second head shot was a close-up of Superman.

She had never seen Superman this close up before, but the moment she saw the two pictures side-by-side, her heart nearly stopped. At first, she thought her mind was playing tricks on her, but photo's never lied. She knew Clark intimately enough to know, immediately, that he and Superman were the same person.

* * *

><p>Lois sat her desk, unable to concentrate on her work; she could not get Clark out of her mind. She was afraid of this; she had fallen in love, and like a school girl, she couldn't concentrate on anything but. This was unprofessional, and for the first time... she didn't care.<p>

She was staring at a piece of paper, in her electronic typewriter that had only three words typed on it. A word had not been typed on it for over an hour. Her brain refused to cooperate with her.

Lucy, forced to—once again—come to the Daily Planet, watched her big sister struggle for the past hour. She couldn't remember a time when she'd seen her sister this anxious. She always admired her older sister for her ability to always keep focus. In that way, Lois was much more like their father than she was.

"Okay, what's wrong? I'm tired of sitting here and watching you stare at that empty sheet paper."

"Who—wha—oh, nothing's the matter, just a little case of writers block."

"Oh, get over yourself, I know when someone's flustered, but I've just never seen it happen to you. You're in love!"

"Wha—don't be ridiculous!" Lois laughed, but there was not a person alive who would have been fooled by this forced laugh. This was her way of being defensive, a sure sign that she was right.

"You are! Oh my god, you're actually in love!" Lucy ran to grab the chair at Clark's desk and rolled it over to her sister's desk. She jumped into the seat like a young girl, ready to share secrets at a slumber party. "So, give me the details, starting with who this Fabio of yours is?"

Lois wanted to tell her to go away, but why would that work now when it never worked before? While her little sister may like 'girl talks', she hated it with a passion. She was not into girly things that most women enjoyed while growing up. As a girl, if anyone made the mistake of buying her a Barbie, the doll would not last two days before it ended up headless and limbless. That is, if her father had not gotten rid of them first. His gifts to her were almost anything military, including G.. When growing up, she refused to join the softball team, and continuously tried to join the men's baseball teams. Of course, that was before she finally found her calling as a journalist and joined the school's newspaper team.

Lois sighed and shook her head. "It's none of your concern."

Lucy was not going to take no for an answer. She was going to press this until her curiosity was quenched. "Is it someone here? Please don't tell me it's Clark Kent. The guy is nice and everything, but he kinda looks like Leonard from the Big Bang Theory, only taller."

"There's more to him than you would think."

The surprise on her face was unmistakable. "Clark Kent? You're the most opinionated, choosy woman I've ever known, and you fall in love with someone like Mr. Kent?"

Lois gave her sister a scowling look. "Like I said, there's more to him than you realize."

Lucy was going to pry for more information when the floor began to shake followed by loud crash. The sudden noise caused both women to jump out of the chair. A stream of panicked employees started to flow towards the elevators and emergency exits.

"What's going on?"

Jimmy fought his way through the crowd, pushing and shoving to try to get to Lois and Lucy. Having been curses with a scrawny body of high school nerd, the task proved daunting. Everyone noticeably towered over him, and none of them seemed to pay the kid any attention. However, his determination allowed him to prevail only after he climbed on top of a desk and climbed over the cubical wall.

Lucy placed her hands on top of him, inspecting him for injury. "Jimmy, what's going on?"

The boy was out of breath, having exerted a lot of his strength climbing over cubicles. "We're under attack!"

"Attack? By whom?"

A desk flipped up like a coin, hitting the ceiling tiles before crashing on top of another desk. All the remaining people on the floor changed directions to find another way out, as a freakishly tall, near middle aged man stormed towards the three of them. His black suit was almost straight out of a Star Wars movie; it was a mix between a cloak and a long sleeve V-neck shirt. His Belt was all black except the buckle, which was a symbol that reminded her very much of Superman's chest symbol.

Lois could feel his eyes directing themselves towards her; she had a very bad feeling that she was about to be made a pawn, once again, to lure Superman. Why couldn't these bad guys come up with anything original?

Lucy hid behind her sister, "He—he—he's coming this way!"

Perry White came out of his office, fuming over the chaos at his workplace. He had no idea what he was stepping into. "What the hell is going on around —"

The intruder shoved everyone and anything out of his way as he approached their little group. It was then they noticed that he was not alone; a familiar face from Lexcorp's past was behind him, and by the look on her face, she was not a prisoner. "Mercy Graves... why am I not surprised?"

"I take it that this is the woman you told me about."

Mercy grinned, standing by his side. "Yes, that's Lois Lane."

"Who the hell are you?" Perry demanded.

His lip curled, finding Perry's demands distasteful and disturbing. "I am General Zod, your new master. As leader of your planet, you shall show me the proper respect, from this point on."

"Wh—wha—what do yo you want?"

Mercy folded her arms in front of her. The General should have to address a pathetic little child; it was below his dignity. "Silly little girl, what do you think? Lois Lane's capture will assure the General an audience with the Man of Steel."

"Actually, my dear... " General Zod interrupted. "I want Superman to feel the urgency of my request for him to come before me, quickly. I'm not taking you hostage... I'm going to kill you."

* * *

><p>Walking down the crowded streets of Metropolis, Clark's mind was still reeling from last night. He felt like a major hurdle, in his life, had been taken down; everything seemed to make sense again. The night he spent with Lois could not have felt more right. It was not the first time he took her on a flight, yet it proved to be the most magical experience.<p>

When it was over, there was no more doubt; he was in love with Lois Lane. She was the one he was ready to spend the rest of his life with, but would she feel the same way when she learned the truth? He knew that the time was now here to tell her the truth. Ever since leaving his apartment, this morning, he had been practicing ways of telling her that he was Superman. He knew that she would not believe him at first, and that he would have to show him his suit underneath his clothes. Therefore, it would have to be somewhere where they could be alone. Perhaps he could convince her to come with him to somewhere more private during lunch hour.

He was just coming to the spinning doors when a rush of people ran out of the building in a panic. Sensing the fear, he focused his hearing on listening to some of the conversations. There was a lot of rumors and speculation among them. Fear had a tendency to distort and exaggerate the truth. With listening in on his fellow employee's rants not getting him anywhere, he focused on what was happening on the news floor. It took him no time at all to discover the situation. "Zod!"


	25. Operation Dust Cloud

**Chapter 25: Operation Dust Cloud**

"You have another thing coming if you think I'm going to let you hurt her!" Perry White raged as he recklessly charged to stand between Lois and General Zod. It was a foolish act, he knew, but he could not just stand by and watch him kill her; he rather die.

Zod stopped him with the palm of his hand and pushed the old man back, sending him flying into a cubical wall, which collapsed upon impact. Perry remained motionless on the floor, but his chest continued its pattern of rising and lowering. He was still alive... for the moment. "Chief!" Lois tried to run to his aid, only to find the Kryptonian general's hand at her throat.

She gasped as he began to apply pressure on her throat. Zod was amazed how fragile these humans were. They were ever easier to injure and kill than he thought. "So where is your savior, Earth woman? You are about to die, and there is no sign of him."

"Go… to… hell!" she managed to get out of her mouth as he slowly increased the strength in his strangle hold on her.

Lucy's face was drenched from her tears. She wanted to approach General Zod, but Jimmy was doing everything he could to hold her back and keep her safe. All she could do was plead for mercy. "Please stop it!"

The General was having too much fun to stop. He had never actually tortured anyone before. Having always been on the front line of the war against the armies of Apokolypse, it was either kill or be killed; there was no time for slow kills. Neither was their time to contemplate on the death of his enemies. All he had to worry about making sure the enemy was dead and then move on to find another. This was the first time he got to watch the life slowly drain away from his victim, and it was scary how good it felt.

"Zod, care to take this outside?" A voice came from outside through the open window.

He looked outside the window to see Superman hovering in front of the window with his arms folded in front of him. He could read it in his face: he was not happy about his treatment towards his woman. With a grin on his face, he released his hold on Lois; as much as he enjoyed watching the life slip away from her eyes, but killing her would not get Superman's obedience. "Kal-El, you got my message. Good, let us talk, outside."

Zod leaped towards the window and it shattered upon his impact. He flew outside the newly created hole where he came face-to-face with the younger Kryptonian. The two men stared at each other, waiting to see who would blink first. "You wanted my attention, you have it."

"It is a rare occasion when I am wrong, but I am an honorable man, and I am willing to admit that I've erred. I've allowed my personal feelings for your Father to get the best of me. You should know that I no longer seek to punish you for your father's actions. We are the last of our kind; we should be working together in preparation for the armies of Apokolyps."

Superman was surprise to hear him say that. He was expecting another brutal fight in a futile attempt to kill him. Last time, Zod could not be reasoned with; his thirst for revenge had turned him into a ravaging animal. Deep down in his gut, he knew that this rouge Kryptonian could not be trusted, but what was he trying to accomplish?

"What's your game, Zod? You cannot possibly expect me to believe that you have had a change of heart this quickly?"

"You shall refer to me as General Zod," he said, clearly struggling to keep his anger in check. "We both know that Darkseid is on his way here. Only together can we destroy him."

"I agree; we should work together rather than against, but something tells me that your price is too high."

General Zod spun around to face away Superman. They continued their discussion high above the ground. He could already sense the final outcome of this discussion would be. He could feel the son of Jor-El's rejection. For his own sake, Kal-El had better give careful thought to this opportunity that was being presented to him. "The only price is something that all systems must pay to survive in harsh and cruel galaxy: unity. The people of the Earth must be united if they are to survive what's coming."

Superman curled up his right eyebrow. "And I supposed you are the one to do it?"

"Who else is qualified? I have had countless number of victories against the armies of Apocolypse. It is only logical that I be the one to unite the people of this world under my rule and you by my side."

"You speak with wisdom, but these words are still coming from the mouth of a snake. Yes, it would be better if this world was united when the dark lord comes, but no one-man has a right to force that upon the people. Yes, there is imperfection, and yes, there is oppression. The people of Earth are not perfect, but they have a right to live and to believe whatever they want, none-the-less. They need to learn for themselves how to accomplish unity without giving up their free will to do it. We have no right to take away their right to chose their own destiny. We cannot do the work for them; all we can do is to be an example for others to follow."

Zod turned again to face the son of Jor-El. To him, each word was equally distasteful as the last. Jor-El's son had no understanding of what Darkseid was capable of. The Dark lord will utterly destroy him, and this planet; the humans are too weak to be made into slaves. Instead of wasting his time and resources, he would just blow the planet up and go find another system to ravage; he would not bother fighting Superman when all he had to do was destroy the planet with him on it. If the people could muster an army to challenge him, then the people could be saved as slaves. Of course, Zod had no intentions of allowing Darkseid to win.

"You are a fool, Kal-El. Free-will will doom you and this planet. I will not have that; I will have my army to stand against Apokolyps. I would prefer that you join me, but I will destroy you if I have to."

"You are insane, Zod. This has never been about the well being of the people of this planet. For you, this is about power, plain and simple. I'd say that you'd sacrifice every person on this planet to win your war against Darkseid."

General Zod grinned. "It's their job to surrender their lives to me, and mine to do with them as I see fit to accomplish victory."

"Then it is a good thing that the people on this planet will never have to worry about you leading them."

As expected, his offer was rejected. There was a part of General Zod that wanted him to reject his offer; now that it has been, he was going to enjoy making the son of Jor-El suffer. "So be it."

General Zod attacked swiftly with heat beams shooting from his eyes. Not expecting the speed in which he attacked, Superman found himself thrown back into the wall of a skyscraper. Not giving him the chance to recover, the Kryptonian general clasped his hands together and flew at him like a speeding missile. His clasped fists came crashing into his chest and the impact sent both of them crashing through the wall of the skyscraper.

* * *

><p>The phone rang on Lana's desk, interrupting her thoughts. When the caller ID displayed the phone number for S.T.A.R. Labs, her foul mood quickly vanished. She was aggressively at the receiver as if it was trying to escape from a predator "Lana Lang?"<p>

"Miss Lang, I'm Professor Hamilton of S.T.A.R Labs; I understand you've been trying to get a hold of me."

"Oh, thank God! Yes, thank you for getting back to me; we have an emergency on our hands, and seeing that you have worked with Superman, I'm hoping you'll be able to help."

"Miss Lane, I—"

Before he could deny his partnership with Superman, she had to get him to realize the severity of the situation. She understood and even expected his reluctance to divulge anything he might know about Superman. "He's in grave danger, Professor. I can't go into great detail, but the world is about to be saturated with Kryptonite dust. Is there a way to stop it?"

"Wait, slow down," The professor said; she could sense the hesitation in his voice. "Okay, what's this about Kryptonite dust?"

"Large stockpiles of Kryptonite meteorites are going to be detonated, resulting in a large cloud of Kryptonite dust to form in the air. The wind should spread the dust to all every corner of the planet. There's no way to stop the destination, so is there a way to destroy the dust before it really saturates the planet, itself."

"Hmmm" The Professor was mulling everything she said in his mind. It sounded like he was willing to help, but unsure as to how. "There may be something I can do, but it will come at the cost the city's solar generator."

"Professor, you'll have to trust me; we have to help him, anyway we can."

"I agree. I should be able to reverse the—"

The phone abruptly went silent. The office was still getting power; it was only the phone the ceased to work. "Hello?"

When no reply came, she hung up the phone. Her confusion was amplified when solid-steel shields slid down each window, blocking out the sun. She began to wonder if a security feature had malfunctioned when a steel door slid shut in front of her only way out of the office. With all forms of outside light blocked all the ceiling lights turned on automatically.

This problem could not have come at a worse time; Clark was in grave danger from the dust cloud that was about to spread through the atmosphere. She had to find a way to get out of this office and reestablish contact with Professor Hamilton. She reached for her intercom to try to contact her secretary, but all power to it was also cut off. To make matters worse, her computer screen now displayed the blue screen of death. Everything in her office was going on a fritz for some reason, but it quickly became clear when a full-sized holographic image of Lex Luthor appeared in the center of the room.

* * *

><p>"Miss Lang?"<p>

The disconnected tone beeped over the receiver. Hanging up the phone, Professor Hamilton's mind immediately went into overdrive. He recognized Lana Lang as the CEO of Lexcorp, a corporation with a very dark history. Up to this point, he would not have given anyone from Lexcorp the time of day when it came to Superman. Superman trusted him with all of his secrets, making the professor the most knowledgeable man on Superman in the world. He knew his anatomy and how his cells processed sunlight; he knew everything about him except his secret identity.

Professor Hamilton did not take that trust lightly. The two of them had taken great care to make sure that this friendship remained secret; who knew what would happen to him if they found out. That was also why he was very reluctant when Miss Lang first called him. Did she know all of this when calling him? His first impression made him think that she wasn't. She merely seemed desperate to find a solution to a problem.

If everything she said was true, then she had a good right to be concerned. He had no idea who was ultimately responsible for this Kryptonite dust plan, but there was plenty to be worried about that no one seemed to realize. If this planet became saturated by Kryptonite dust, not only will Superman die, but he estimated more than fifty percent of humans around the world will die over a period of a year. He had to treat this news as fact.

Professor Hamilton went to work on his computer, pulling up a Doppler radar image of the United States. There was no sign of the dust cloud yet; he still had time to prepare. From what he knew about Kryptonite, the only way to stop a cloud of it was to overwhelm it with an extensive blast of radiation from their sun. Luckily, Superman and made the Solar Generator a last resort tool disperse the stored energy as a solar radiation. He believed that an evil was coming that he might not be able to stop, and this tool would help him in his greatest time of need. It was only meant to be for emergencies, because it would result in rendering the solar generation permanently useless.

This was not the emergency that Superman was expecting, but if someone was about to saturate the planet with this dust, then he had no choice. The first sight of this cloud on the radar, and he would use the solar panels, on the outskirts of Metropolis, to burn the Kryptonite in the sky.

He stood up from his desk, and made his way for the solar generator. Somehow, he knew that he did not have much time. Fortunately, setting the Solar Generator would not take very long.

* * *

><p>General Lane looked down from the military chopper at the giant stockpile of Kryptonite meteorites. He wanted to be here as they detonated the meteorites all around the world. With the incidents around the world, and the attack on the Pentagon, he had no more lingering doubt that he was doing the right thing. This dust would properly dispose of Superman and the Kryptonian; as for the android, he had a dozen soft bombs on the way. The soft bombs may destroy any electrical devices in a good portion of Metropolis, but that all could be fixed once they had peace.<p>

When the helicopter landed, General Lane climbed out of the passenger cabin where he was greeted by one of his soldier. "General, we are ready for detonation, but we may have a problem."

"I don't want to hear it, soldier. There'll be no more delays. Detonate the stockpiles."

"Sir, I really think—"

General Lane shrugged him off as he entered the temporary bunker that was made to protect him and his men from the explosion. He stormed into the bunker, hoping his foul mood would have the same effect on the rest of his men than the soldier who had greeted him. Everyone stood at attention as he entered the bunker. "Is every one clear?"

"Yes, sir! We're ready at any time, but—"

"Is that the detonator?"

"Yes sir, but I—"

General Lane brushed the young man aside, and walked up to the button. "No more delays. Fire in the hole!" The general slapped down on the detonator button before anyone else could protest.


	26. Impossible Choices

**Chapter 26: Impossible Choice**

The explosion was violent but satisfying. A gulf of flames reached surprisingly far up into the sky, releasing a green, misty cloud into the air. This was just the beginning, yet General Lane could not help but feel victorious. Soon the alien invaders will be dead, and the Earth will be free from any further danger. "Well done, men! Everything worked perfectly."

"Uh—sir," One of his young soldiers spoke out. He had tried to warn him before, but the General was not willing to listen to him.

"What is it, cadet?"

"I'm afraid we were not as successful as you would've liked."

General Lane was ready to rip the young man to shreds for intruding on his celebration. If there was a problem, then he should have been made aware of the situation sooner. "What do you mean, soldier?"

The boy was afraid of the General and what he might do to him. For all he knew, he could find himself dishonorably discharged even though he had done nothing to warrant such a punishment. Rumors had run amuck among the cadets that General Lane was the hardest man to serve under. Fail him, and you could find yourself in mess hall for the rest of your military career. "None of the other stock piles were ready to detonate."

"What? Why not!"

"Sir, all the other stockpiles have mysteriously been sabotaged. "

The general wanted to hit something at that moment. Why can't these stupid politicians get it through their thick skulls? It wasn't just the American politicians either. They views Superman as some sort of savior to be worshiped. No man should have that much power and influence.

So now, he was faced with the fact that only one stockpile was detonated. It would only cover half the United States, starting with Metropolis. At least half this nation would be protected from the chaos, making it a little easier for him to do his job. He still would have preferred for a complete success of this operation. "So why wasn't this one sabotaged unless..."

Somehow that rouge Kryptonian found out about his plans and sabotaged everything, but how? He wanted this stockpile to go off to use it against Superman. The blasted Kryptonian hijacked his weapon and made it his own; there was no way of undoing what had been done. There was no choice but leave the hostile alien for Superman to take care of, but that didn't mean that there was nothing he could do about the alien android. "If we can't deal with this rouge alien, we can at least do something about that damn android when he shows up. I want the jets carrying our soft bombs ready to attack upon my command."

* * *

><p>Lana shouldn't have been surprised to see another holographic recording of Lex Luthor. These things have been popping up quite a bit as she discovered new hidden secrets throughout this office. Somehow, this recording had a different feel to it; the image was looking straight at her. There was no mistaking the agitation in his facial expressions.<p>

"Well, Miss Lang, I can't say enough how disappointed I am. I had such high hopes for you as my replacement as CEO of Lexcorp. You have violated that trust I had in you by going against the very principles I set for this corporation."

"What principles?" She could not decide whether to take heed to this recording or not. There was no way he could terminate her employment from beyond the grave.

"You've given assistance to my enemy, Superman. In this corporation, that's a violation of confidentiality, and is immediate grounds for termination."

Was the image replying to her question, or was it part of the recording? Even more importantly, was the sinking feeling that she was not going to like what was about to happen. She shouldn't have underestimated the ingenuity of Lex Luthor. Only he could find a way to run a corporation even after he had died.

The fire alarm system sounded throughout the entire tower. Now, she knew she was in trouble. The entire building was starting to evacuate by now, and she had somehow activated a trap that locked her in this office. She should have guessed that this secret office was booby trapped. Everything she did, and everything she said on the phone must have been monitored by an advanced artificial intelligence program. It must have monitored her conversation with Professor Hamilton and detected key words in their conversation that alerted it of their attempt to save Superman.

The technology to create such a program was beyond anything the world had ever seen. Lex had been hoarding many things that could have greatly benefited the public. She recently learned that he had actually found the cure for cancer, but had decided to slow down the research so it would not be discovered for over twenty years. He wanted to milk it for as much money as he could. Even worse, the moment she was made CEO of Lexcorp, his research on the cure self-destructed. The world was being cheated out of some Earth-changing, technological, and medical breakthroughs.

Now, he was at it again. The whole building was being evacuated while she was locked in this office which had become her high-tech prison. An urge swelled up inside of her to find a way out of that office. Her instincts were telling her that she had to get out of there now.

"Your services, here at Lexcorp, are no longer needed. As of this moment, you are terminated… permanently." Her fears were confirmed with that last statement. It was confirmed, yet again, when the monitor beneath the glass desktop went blank and displayed a LED-displayed, digital timer with ten minutes on the clock. The countdown started as soon as the timer appeared. "Farewell, Miss Lang. At least people will say that you went out with a bang!"

The holographic image disappeared, leaving her alone for the final nine and a half minutes remaining of her life. She immediately raced around the office, desperate to find a hidden exit. Her search did not last long; it didn't take her long to convince herself that Lex would not make that dumb of a mistake. There was no escaping from this prison.

When that understanding took hold of her, her emotional state started to sink like a rock. Tears strolled down her face as she ran for the steel door that prevented her from reaching the office door. She pounded on it with both of her fists. "Somebody help me, Please! Clark, please help me!"

* * *

><p>Once again, Superman had quickly gained the advantage over General Zod. This time around, his powers were much more developed; he had gained an appreciation of what he could of, but he still lacked control. No matter what he did, the general could not match Superman's entire life-time under Earth's yellow sun. Still, he could sense his abundant supply of confidence. That was when he knew Zod was up to something; this was either just a distraction or him buying his time.<p>

Zod was able to get in a few good moves using his brilliant, military, strategic mind. That definitely gave him an edge. His long career as a brilliant military leader on Krypton was proof that he was an intelligent man. Superman could only be grateful that he was the one that spent a life time here on Earth rather than rouge general. If he could ever gained his full strength and add that to his military tactics, then Superman doubted that would be able to defeat him.

The two of them found themselves high above the city, trading jabs. Zod displayed his military intelligence by shooting heat beams towards his face. He protected his face with his hand only to find the general taking advantage by delivering a hard blow into his gut. The man, who had recently been nicked name 'The Man of Steel', realized that he should have anticipated such a move. This mistake just handed his advisory the momentum.

The general realized it, and took full advantage of it. He brought down both of his elbows onto his back, pushing him downward. Before giving him the chance to recover, Zod flew up higher and then came back down like a missile, with his feet implanted into his back. There was nothing he could do to stop his descent. He was forced to take the blow, as the crashed into the middle of the street, leaving a giant crater in their wake.

All the cars on the road narrowly missed them, as they swerved to either crash into another car in front of them, or into the windows of nearby shops. The pileup of continued to increase, as the chain reaction spiraled out of control. A few cars even found themselves flipped onto their hoods or on top of another car. After a solid minute of chaos, the traffic catastrophy came to an end.

Before the dust had the chance to settle, Superman went on the offensive. He spun himself onto his back, positioning himself for the attack. By the time the general knew what was happening, he grabbed him by the leg and pushed it up so hard, that it caused Zod to fall backwards and hit the ground with his head.

Keeping on the offensive, he launched the second step to his three part attack. He leaped to his feet and grabbed Zod's ankle. Using a mixture of his super strength and speed, he spun around in circles, lifting the general off the ground and floating up above the ground. The dizzying speed that he was being spun prevented him from being able to focus and break himself free. When Superman was ready, he threw him into a deserted two-car pileup. The impact nearly caused the top car to slide completely off the other car.

For the final step of the attack, Superman unleashed his heat beams from his eyes, hitting the gas tank of one of the cars behind Zod. The result was an instant gigantic explosion. Superman knew that the attack would do nothing to harm his fellow Kryptonian; he opposed killing out of cold blood. Superman was only fighting to buy himself time to think of a way to send him to the Phantom Zone. It was the only way he could see to end this stalemate.

Therefore, he was not surprised to see General Zod walk out, unscathed by the hot, burning flames. He remained as passive as always. He wore a crooked smile as naturally and as good as anyone he had ever seen. He had the face of a man who truly believed everything he was doing was right, no matter how misguided he really was. The Kryptonian general was not going to be intimidated again; he was not going to run away for a second time. "Zod, this is your last chance; end this chaos, now!"

Zod looked up into the sky and his face become even more confident, if that was possible. He returned his gaze back towards him with new life in his eyes. "No, Kal-El, this is your last chance. Kneel before your new master."

Superman looked to the sky to see what Zod had seen to give him this new found confidence. A green cloud was floating towards the city. It was anything but a natural occurrence. There was no doubt that it was a cloud of Kryptonite dust that was expanding over the city of Metropolis. General Lane had detonated the stockpiles. He actually went through with his audacious plan.

What didn't make sense to him, however, was why the Kryptonite cloud coming towards them was making him more confident. Surely, he was smart enough to know that he, too, would be killed by it as well. A sudden realization suddenly came rushing into his confused mind. Mercy Graves had been with him up at the Daily Planet. With her former ties to Lexcorp, she must have discoverd what Lana Lang and General Lane was up to. If she had resources to discover that plan, then she probably knew about the alternate use for the solar generator.

"I know what you are trying to do; I will not allow it to happen."

"Really? How are you going to stop me? Listen carefully, can you not hear the situation over at the—what did she call it—the Lexcorp tower, is it?"

He immediately knew that he was talking about Lana. Mercy and Zod had planned this trap from the beginning. This was what he was waiting patiently for. He focused his enhanced hearing in the direction of the Lexcorp tower. He could hear her frantic voice calling out to him by his human name. She was on the verge of tears due to the loss of hope. From this distance, he could not determine what kind of trouble she was in, but he could sense her fear of death playing a drastic role in her condition.

"So what will it be, Kal-El? Will you stop me or save that pitiful female earthling from being blown into her next life?"

From the other side of Metropolis, a blinding yellow beam shot up at the Kryptonite dust. The dust began to catch fire and soon, the green cloud started to turn into a billowy, red, cloud of fire. Professor Hamilton was using the solar generator to burn the Kryptonite with an intense yellow solar radiation. Superman now realized that Mercy Graves was more than just an assistant to Lex; she was very capable of manipulating the world around her just as well as her late boss.

Zod wasted no time taking off towards that beam of light. Superman realized, for the sake of Metropolis and the world, it would be wiser if he focused all of his attention on stopping Zod from acquiring full control of his powers. The problem was, he often listened to his heart, rather than his head. He was not willing to sacrifice anyone for the greater cause, even if it meant making things harder for himself. He was willing to sacrifice his life, and no one else's. He decided long ago that he would never play god and chose who should live or who should die. Everyone had the right to live and be saved, if at all possible. He had no choice but go the other way and save Lana. Things were about to get very complicated.


	27. Brainiac Strikes Again

**Chapter 27: Brainiac Strikes Again **

The earth woman's plan surprisingly worked well. Kal-El had left to rescue a pathetic human, allowing him to acquire the power he needed to rule this planet. She had orchestrated things to where the earthlings would have to shoot yellow-sun energy to save themselves, but they didn't realize that it would only hasten their demise.

The second he flew into the yellow beam, his skin began to tingle. The burning Kryptonite dust, up above him, did not concern him, not when he could feel his strength increase. He could feel his muscles expanding. His body was expanding in height and mass. A fire of energy flowed through his veins at a much greater capacity he ever thought possible. Soon, the entire planet will kneel before his new found power.

* * *

><p>There was one minute remaining of her life; it was hardly time enough to get anything settled or make peace with herself. She wasn't ready to have her life end so quickly; there was so much she wanted to do with her life, but now, will never get to. Her life would go incomplete. Life was cruel.<p>

As the timer was now counting down the seconds, she could do nothing but fall to her knees in surrender to the cold, hard reality. Like a frightened, abandoned child, she wept. There would be no family grieving for her; the only family she had died nearly half a year ago. They were here, visiting Metropolis, when they were killed in the chaos with Metallo. She wished she knew where that monstrosity came from, or who in their right mind would make something so evil.

As the final seconds were counting down, she stopped looking at the timer all together. She waited for the darkness to hit her with vengeance. She had exhausted all options, and searched the entire office. There was no escaping this prison; Lex made sure of that.

Through her frantic sobs, she heard a loud crash in one of the floors above her. At first, she thought it was the building collapsing upon itself, which she thought would have been overkill for the likes of Lex Luthor. With twenty seconds left on the clock, she was certain that wasn't what was happening. The crashing continued to grow louder, as something was going through all the levels towards her office. The ceiling tiles fell to the ground and Superman came crashing through the ceiling.

She jumped to her feet before the thought to do so even entered her mind. He did hear her cries for help after all. This was her first time seeing Superman's warm and caring face up close, and all her suspicions were correct; Clark Kent was Superman. Having known him since high school, she knew him well enough that no changes in his posture or his looks could hide his identity from her.

There was no time to dwell it; the timer was down to ten seconds. Of all the things she could have said , she could only think of three words to say. "You heard me!"

She ran into his arms, more than ready to leave this forsaken office. Gently holding her to him, he shot up through the hole he had just made on the way in. Just as he took off, the office erupted in flames. Lana pressed her face into his chest, afraid to look in either direction. Below them, the flames were racing to catch up to them. Add that to the nerves she felt from flying without any form of protection, other than Clark's arms, and she was a nervous wreck.

They flew up the hole, through several levels of the tower, racing against the flames. Flying as fast as he dared, Superman finally zipped out of the rooftop of Lexcorp tower as the flames briefly puffed out of the hole.

Gaining the courage to open her eyes, she took a quick look at their surroundings. She could see the rooftops of dozens Metropolis' medium sized buildings. They were flying level to the taller skyscrapers. Farther down, the cars, driving down the streets, looked like ants marching in formation. It was a surreal, but terrifying, view of the mega city. She squealed, pressing her face into his chest again, and holding on to him as tightly as she could.

"Don't worry, you're perfectly safe."

His familiar voice broke her from her fear as she managed to peer up and look into his face. He had a warm smile that she had always loved back in high school. Looking at his face, she could not help feel remorseful of everything that had happened that had led up to this moment. The Kryptonite dust was the biggest regret weighing down on her heart. "I don't suppose you would find it in your heart to forgive me for this mess, Clark."

Hearing her call him Clark took him by surprised; there was no way he could hide the surprise. "I—I— "

"I know it's you; I was once employed at Luthorcorp, you know?"

"Once?"

Looking into his eyes was too much for her to bare; the guilt was becoming overwhelming. "I should've listened to you about Lex. I knew the man was shady, but to use me to try to get to you, and then try to dispose of me... It's downright creepy. He tried to blow me up, Clark!"

Superman didn't know whether he should confirm his identity to her or not. This could be her way of fishing for the truth, but then again, she had almost been blown up inside of Lexcorp. It was more likely that she was right, and Lex Luthor had arranged all of this before his death to strike back at him. That meant, he could have allowed her to discover the truth as part of this whole mess. Of course, Lex could have never imagined that perfect timing of this plan, with Metallo and Zod on the loose... or could he? Was it possible that Lex knew that they were coming to earth? If so, there was more to Lex than he even knew. Chances were, this would not be the last time his presence would be felt.

"Clark, it's okay. I won't tell anyone your secret." She knew him so well, that she could see the conflict in his eyes.

He knew Lana a long time now, and he knew that she was not the type to deceive him. She had to be telling him the truth; she had to know his identity. There was no point trying to lie at this point. "I know."

Lana ventured to look down one more time, to see if she was adjusting to this terrifying experience. As soon as her eyes gazed downward, they bounced back up. She had never really enjoyed flying in the first place, and this was a hundred times worse.

Seeing how frightened she was, he made sure to descend slowly, flying around in circles in the process. He was hoping this would at least make it easier for her to handle. It took awhile to reach the ground, in comparison to the way he normally would land, but it _DID_ seem to be easier on her nerves. When their feet touched the ground, he could sense the tension in her body evaporate.

When he released her, she stepped back and looked up into his handsome face. The time they spent together flashed across her mind. The two of them were madly in love back in high school. She remembered how devastated she felt when he broke up with her with a hand-written note. As much as it was wrong for him to have not told her in person, she could forgive him for disappearing. All of this made her realize that they were never meant to be together.

Lana looked around to see if anyone was in ear shot of their voices. "Do you yourself a favor, will you? Don't keep Lois at arm's length forever."

She had again surprised him with her comment. His jaw dropped, surprised that she would promote Lois over herself. Being a part of something as special as they had during high school, he had thought that, now that she knew the full truth, she would want to try to pick up the pieces. Instead, she had come to a different revelation altogether.

"I know why you did what you did back in high school, and I forgive you. We were never meant to be, but I think it's clear, to both of us, that you and Lois are a perfect fit. Don't wait too long to tell her."

Superman smiled, now reminded why Lana was so special to him. He wished things could have ended differently between them. "I won't."

Their conversation came to an abrupt end as two white beams threw Superman into the back of a parallel parked car. Lana squealed, narrowly avoiding death yet again. Brainiac stood there in the center of the one-way street, preventing the oncoming traffic from coming through. The people who were gathered outside started to run, knowing what was about to take place.

Lana was frozen in place, despite being in the middle of the soon-to-come chaos. It took the hand of someone grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her to get her to move out of the danger zone. It took the face of Lois Lane looking into hers to break her out of the trance. "What, are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"L—Lois?"

Lana glanced back to see Superman already brushing himself off as the alien android approached. "Today, is the day this planet looses their savior."

"Why, Brainiac?" Superman asked coldly. "Why did you kill my people... _OUR_ people?"

The android was unable to display emotions on his solid, metallic face, but his voice processor was more than adequate in displaying a very calculating, maniacal characteristic. "The Kryptonians were fools for opposing the forces of Lord Darkseid. The stalemate between the two armies were taking more lives than saving. It was only logical that one side had to be destroyed. Seeing that Darkseid is immortal, Krypton was the only solution to the dilemma."

"So, in the _'dilemma'_ of an invincible wall versus an unmovable object, your solution is to manipulate the unmovable object until it self-destructs?"

"Precisely," Brainiac replied. "Less lives are lost in the long run. It is better to be a slave than be dead, is that not logical?"

"You have a lot to learn about organic life forms," Superman replied, disgusted by the logic that he was hearing. "And how did you get General Zod to go along with your act of treason."

"His ambitious nature made it very easy to manipulate. He believes it was all to be done to save his people from a politically corrupt government. Of course, I made sure that any attempts he made to save his people, failed. However, I miscalculated Jor-El's commitment in saving your life."

"So, if you deal with me, Earth will be spared?" He had a gut feeling that he knew the answer to that question, and even if Brainiac answered differently, Superman doubted that he could trust him.

"From Darkseid's wrath? Earth is his next target, either way. What happens to the people of Earth depends on you. If you prove too—challenging—for his likings, he will merely destroy this inferior planet."

So that was how it was going to be? If he surrendered himself, then Darkseid would only enslave all of humanity. It was not a good ultimatum to be faced with. It was definitely one that he wasn't going to subject himself to. "Well, I am afraid that Darkseid is going to have to learn to be disappointed, because if he comes anywhere near this planet, he is going to regret it."

"You are mistaken, son of Jor-El. You will not live to see the coming of Apokolips." With that, discussion on the matter came to an end. He fired his eye beams again towards Superman, since they were able to slow Superman down.

Sensing the attack was coming, he dodged the beams with speed faster than lightning. In the same move, he zipped towards Brainiac and landed a punch in the chest. The impact did not have as much as an impact as it should have; the android's feet dug into the asphalt as he was pushed back only a few feet. It was like he was deeply entrenched into the ground.

Before Brainiac could try to take back the momentum, Superman decided to try it one more time. He was not able to get him into the air last time, so he decided to try something different; if hitting him up did not work, then it was time to try hitting him down. Clasping his hands together, he leaped up and brought them down upon his head. The android caught his wrists just over his head, but the impact still caused the ground beneath him to collapse into a large crater.

Brainiac looked up at him. He could not tell what the android was thinking, which proved to be a bigger disadvantage than he would have anticipated; there was no telling what the android was going to do before it was too late. This time... it was no different. The android use his hands to pass a high voltage stream of electricity into Superman.

The pain was excruciating, and it only got worse the more he fought against it. It became harder and harder to keep his muscles from relaxing, and in the split second that they did, Brainiac took advantage of it. The android threw him into the tower to his right. He flew, back first, through the second story window. Everyone in that office space ran for their lives as he crashed through several of the desks before going through a wall.

Lois and Lana ran away from that very building, trying to escape the shower of window fragments. Despite the continuous near death experiences she's found herself in, she could not ignore the feel of animosity emanating from Lois. She needed to clear the air between them, and now was as good as a time as any, in case one of them did not make it through this crisis. "We need to talk."

"Now? As if you didn't know, Metropolis is kinda experiencing a catastrophe at the moment."

Despite her unwillingness to hear her out, she was going to force her to hear this. "Lois, you've nothing to worry about from me, in regards to Clark. His heart belongs to you... always has. I've no intentions of interfering between you two, cause even I can see that you two are meant for each other."

Lois' face was shrouded in confusion. She didn't know how to respond to her. She was more than willing to go on disliking her for the rest of her life; she hadn't expected her to try to form a truce with her. "I don't know what to say. Things are more complicated than you may imagine."

Lana could see something in Lois' eyes. She was trying to hide something from her, but it didn't take a genius to figure it out. "Wait, you already know the truth about Clark?"

Superman came shooting out of the tower like a bullet, ramming into Brainiac. The impact finally sent the android flying into the office building on the opposite end of the street, but it also sent a small shockwave which nearly knocked Lana, Lois, and everyone near them off their feet. Superman followed after the android into the building where the trading of punches sounded like the crashing of thunder.

"You know?" Lois continued the conversation as the battle raged on around them.

"I've known Clark since High School. No disguise can hide the truth from me. When did Clark tell you?"

"H—He doesn't know that I know," Lois said looking down at her feet.

Lana smiled as she placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. "Be patient, he'll tell you when he's ready. Believe me, he loves you more than anything; you complete him. Destiny had different plans for Clark and me; I see that now. You're what he needs, cause super or not, he cannot fulfill his destiny without you."

Superman and Brainiac were wrestling in mid air before crashing into the middle of the street. Having landed on top, Superman planted another minor dent into the droid's face plate before standing up on top of him. With his eyes glowing red, Superman was about to unleash a powerful heat beam to try to end this fight, when another pair of red beams struck him and threw him into the side of a parked car.

The blast was very powerful; he had to take a second to gather his wits before he stood up to see what hit him. General Zod hovered to the ground, standing side-by-side with Brainiac who had just finished picking himself up from the ground. "Now, son of Jor-El, you _WILL_ kneel before Zod!"


	28. Kryptonian World War

**Chapter 28: Kryptonian World War**

Turpin was happy to hear that the upper levels of Lexcorp building had exploded; perhaps this time, the corporation would stay close. The only bad thing about this news was the possibility of hundreds of innocent people might have been injured in the catastrophe. Of course the great news about Lexcorp had to be a double-edged sword; it was just his luck.

Pushing his 2010-Chevrolet-Cavalier, company car as hard as he could, he abrasively drove towards Lexcorp. Sawyer was holding on to anything she could find; never had she been so scared of being a passenger in Dan Turpin's car. "Jesus Dan, I'd like to get there alive, if it's not too much to ask!"

Turpin grumbled underneath his breath. His attention was fully on trying to find a way through the traffic to get to the tower. It was taking every ounce of restraint he had to keep himself from going on a swearing fit; the darn people of Metropolis needed to learn how to drive. His aggressive driving nearly caused him to rear end a small, two-door coup as the traffic came to an abrupt halt. "Aw, what the hell!"

Sawyer'a nails nearly ripped through the leather on the door handle. She was glad that the horror had come to an end, at least for a minute or two. "What's the matter Dan, the sidewalk's not to your liking?"

"Yeah, I'm in a grumpy mood, today, and what of it?" he huffed. "We've still got a fire burning in the sky after some strange yellow beam shot up from the ground... we've got the explosion at Lexcorp—Luthorcorp—whatever it's called now. It's enough to ruin anyone's day. What else can possibly go wrong today?"

"Uh, Dan, I think things just got worse," Captain Sawyer said cautiously, as she opened her door.

"What now?" Turpin ventured to open his door and step out of the car, seeing that the traffic was not going anywhere. Down the street, it sounded like the echoes of thunder snapping. After one of the crackling of 'thunder' a red and blue streak raced across the sky, towards their direction. The blur hit a steal beam of at the construction site besides them. Superman was caught in the indentation of the steel girder, trying to come to his senses.

Everyone gasped as they began to climb out of their cars and star up at the stunned hero. Turpin looked down the street to see another person, like Superman, flying in their direction. This was the alien that Superman had manhandled several days ago. It would appear that, somehow, he was able to turn the tide. His eyes were drawn down, and everything became clear. The same android—Brainiac if he remembered correctly—was marching towards them, using some kind of energy to toss the cars out of his way. The alien and the android were working together. "Damn!"

He exchanged looks with Sawyer, and without trading words, they knew what they needed to do. "Let's move it, everyone! Clear out!"

* * *

><p>The last hit caused him to see stars. Stuck in the indentation he made in the steel beam, he was still trying to shake the confusion. Not only did Zod's power increased, he was now fighting alongside of Brainiac. The odds did not look good. Superman knew that there would be consequences to pay for not stopping Zod when he had the chance, and now it was time to pay the debt.<p>

Zod hovered in front of him with a smug look on his face. He grabbed him by the throat and pulled him out of the steel beam. "Now, the power is at its rightful place: in my hands." He unleashed his heat beams from his eyes, at full force, pushing the Man of Steel all the way down into the cement foundation.

Brainac finished the attack by releasing an invisible pulse from the palm of his right hand. All ten stories worth of steel began to groan until the stress caused all the steel beams to collapse. One of the beams pierced the side of the tower next door and began to rip tear through the glass and cement. There were more than a handful of unlucky people on that level who had no chance to prepare or save themselves. Without prejudice, the beam cleared everything, in its path, out of the way and swept them right out of the building.

* * *

><p>Lana nearly screamed as she watched the steel frame come collapsing to the ground. It was bad enough to watch over a dozen people fall to their deaths from the tower next door, but to watch thousands of tons of steel collapse onto Clark was hard to watch. Lois, on the other hand, was much more calm and collected. Lana admired her strength. To be in love with someone who others wanted to kill took strength beyond reasoning. She didn't have that kind of strength; Lois did. "We've got to help him!"<p>

"There's nothing I'd like more, but there's nothing we can do," She replied.

Lana knew she was right. Seeing as she was no longer was CEO of Lexcorp, she had lost all access to everything that could possibly even the odds out for Clark. Even if she was still authorized to enter the building, she doubted that she would be allowed to. By now, the rest of the skyscraper was evacuated and the fire and the police departments probably have everything taped off.

As she reeled to find any memory that she might have forgotten that may have a solution to her dilemma, she was interrupted by a loud thud. Before she could figure out what was going on, Lois was on the ground, unconscious. Lana turned to find herself looking down the barrel of a gun.

"Perhaps I should've taken Superman's precious girlfriend rather than you, but she's too much of an army brat for my taste," Mercy said slyly. "Besides, I've got a score to settle with you after what you tried to do to Lex's corporation. Lucky for me, Superman seems to value all life, so you'll just have to do as my gift to General Zod."

* * *

><p>The wind was knocked out of him, which was all he experienced physically. Emotionally, over all the chaos of the tower come crashing down over him, he could still feel the deaths of dozens of innocent lives in direct result of the collapse. With his super hearing, Superman could almost hear the extinguishing of more heartbeats that he cared to count. With each heartbeat that faded into silence, the more rage welled up inside of him. It was through that rage, he was able to dig himself towards the top.<p>

He stopped just short of breaking free, deciding to surprise General Zod with a retaliation attack. There was one steel girder between him and freedom, and it was perfectly placed for what he wanted to do. It pointed upward, no doubt in the direction where General Zod would be hovering. He placed his hands at the end the girder and with all the rage that he built up, he launched himself out of the pile, with the girdle, shooting upward like a missile.

His guess proved to be correct, and the Kryptonian general was right where he had hoped. Superman pushed the girder into the sky, ramming the other end of the beam into the chest of Zod, and pushing him high above the city as well. When he was at a safe height, he stopped his ascent and grabbed the girder like a baseball bat. He pulled the large girder back and swung without hesitation.

The impact was like the breaking of the sound barrier, and the Kryptonian was sent sailing far across the opposite end of Metropolis. The General ended up crashing through an electronic bulletin board. Spark spat out in all directions and began to rain down to the ground along with the debris of glass.

With Zod temporally out of the picture, Superman was ready for Brainiac. Unfortunately, he never had the chance to implement the next phase of the attack. He could see, what looked like a ripple all around him, as if he was looking at the surface of a disturbed pond. Before he knew what was happening, the girder was bending as if it had the flexibility of a snake. It wrapped itself around him, fastening his arms to his side before hardening again. He fought to free his arms, but he wasn't given enough time to work on it. That barely visible beam emanating from the ground pulled girder and him to the ground like rocket approaching its target.

He hit the ground with such force, it sent a small shockwave which flipped nearby cars like coins, and created yet another large crater which would mean more work for the road crews. After the dust settled, Superman found himself on one knee, looking up, out of the crater, at Brainiac. He stood at the edge of crater, looking menacingly down at him. He realized that the Kryptonian android had him right where he wanted him.

* * *

><p>With the back of her head throbbing, Lois opened her eyes to find herself lying on the sidewalk. She had no recollection what just happened, all she knew was she had one annoying headache to deal with on top of all the chaos. As she worked at getting back onto her feet, she noticed that there were at least five men nearby; not one of them came over to help her or to see if she was even alive. Typical males.<p>

As she stood up, the ground trembled softly followed by a soft breeze that flicked her long, black hair. She could only imagine what kind of damage that the battle was doing to Metropolis. "Lana, what..."

She looked to her right to see that Lana was no longer by her side. Her purse was on the ground, which was a sure-tell sign that she left unwillingly. She reached down and picked the purse up, hoping to god that she had a chance to get it back to her. As she was still hunched over, she looked to her left and saw the android flying backwards as if he had been thrown against his will. She stood and was about to find cover when she noticed a stocky, old grandmother watching the action intently, not even noticing how intrusive she was being in the process.

However, that was the least of her worries at that point; they were in the path of the Kryptonian version of world war. "Look out!"

Lois grabbed the elderly woman by the arm and tugged towards the revolving door of the tower behind them. Unfortunately, her weight added to her resistance, slowing her rescue attempt. She expected that they were going to die, but before the android crashed into them, it corrected itself by pulling himself down onto his feet as if his feet were magnetically drawn to the ground. Never in her life was Lois happy to see an adversary of Superman recover from one of his attacks. This gave her more time to pull the old woman out of the way.

However, it turned out only to be a few seconds of added time. She afforded a glanced beyond the android to see a mangled construction steel-girder coming in their direction. The few seconds that it did afford them was enough to wake the poor woman out of her shock. Without resistance, she was easily able to guide her into the tower just as the girder came crashing down on the ground, shattering all the windows on the ground floor. A wave of glass crashed upon their backs, but they were fortunate enough to be far enough away that the glass did not hurt either of them.

"Oh, thank you young lady, you saved my life," the old woman said, turning towards her and cupping Lois' right hand in hers.

"Don't mention it, Ma'am," Lois responded, wanting her hand back, but did not want to seem rude.

She tried to gently pull her hand free, but the elderly woman only gripped it harder. "Say, I know you, don't I? Yes, you're that Daily Planet reporter."

She wanted to tell her that there were dozens of reporters at the Daily Planet, but somehow it seemed like it wouldn't matter. Her name was usually the first name thought of when talking about the Planet. Chances were, she _WAS_ the reporter that the grandmother was thinking of. "Yes, I'm Lois Lane"

"Oh, bless you, dearie. Thank you for all that you do. I have some girls that I wish you could meet; they mean the world to me." The woman finally let go of her hand as she let out a motherly chuckle. "They have this sweet name for me... Granny Goodness."

Lois looked outside to see that the battle had moved on from their area. She did not want to be rude, but the man whom she loved was in a battle for his life, and she had to be there to see what happens. She needed to be certain that he would be able to win this fight, despite what the odds were starting to look like. "That's nice, but if you'll excuse me, I really have to go."

"I understand. Oh, to be young and full of energy again. Perhaps I can introduce you to my girls another time."

Lois nodded, and ran out of the tower, happy just to get away from that kind, old woman who appeared to be ready to share her life's story with her. There was no time for her to waist; she had to get back outside. Daring not to look behind, for fear of giving her the impression that she actually cared to hear about her granddaughters, she raced out of the tower. The old woman watched with a devilish grin across her face.


	29. Consequences

**Chapter 29: Consequences **

General Lane sat in the passenger hold of the military chopper. Now that it was safe to fly over Metropolis with the burning Kryptonite dust now settling, he was free to check out the explosions he had been hearing. It was just as he feared, Superman was doing battle with one of the two menaces, and—as luck would have it—the battle was with the android.

Wearing a headset , that served as a radio and a sound reducer, he pulled the microphone down to his mouth. "Where are my soft bombs?"

The dispatcher on the other line had a quick response to his inquiry. "The jets should arrive over Metropolis in five minutes."

"Ten minutes? There may be nothing left of the city in ten minutes!" Either the city could be lost, or Superman would have taken care of the android, which was just as bad. He was determined to prove that the world did not need Superman to keep itself safe. He was going to establish to the citizens of the United States that their government can handle anything that nature could throw their way. Destroying the android would go a long way to restoring the people's confidence.

* * *

><p>Having broken free from the girder, Superman tried throwing it into Brainiac, but the android had deflected it. So the battle raged on. Using his super speed, he ran like a blur, hoping his speed would catch him off guard. He should have remembered that he was fighting the super-computer of all super-computers. No doubt he calculated his trajectory, despite moving at the speed of light; when he was close enough to throw a punch towards his chest, Brainiac met his fist with a metallic fist of his own. The impact sent a tiny shockwave that shattered all the glass of car windows and cracked the first floor windows of all the towers in the vicinity.<p>

He tried to sneaking in a side punch with his other hand, but the Kryptonian android had anticipated it, and swatted the punch away. Brainiac would not give him another free shot; he fired his eye beams straight into his face, temporarily blinding him.

Seeing white spots dancing before his eyes, Superman had no way to see or prevent a metallic hand reaching out for his neck. It was only when he felt the smooth, cold hand around his neck that he knew what was about to happen. Thousands of volts went coursing through his neck; the pain was so intense, that it forced him down onto one knee.

Superman hoped that Brainiac was not programmed with pain receptors, because what he was about to do would be ethically questionable to his own, personal standards. If this was any other sentient life form, this would not be an option for him. He grabbed hold of the android's wrist with both hands and squeezed. It was harder than he anticipated crushing his wrist. What kind of material was he made out of anyway?

The metal slowly began to crumple under the pressure. The android had no choice but to let go before his hand was completely destroyed. He allowed Brainiac to pull his wrist back; he had something else in mind for him. Leaping onto his feet, he began to bombard his metal chest with a series of quick, but powerful, jabs. The android again stood firm, but this time, his punches were actually bruising the metal frame.

Despite the minor dents that he was putting on him, his posture suggested that he saw him as nothing more than an annoying insect that needed to be squashed. As such, he swung his arm with speed he failed to anticipate, which caused him to stumble backwards, away from the android.

He quickly corrected himself and was prepared to come at Brainiac with another series of jabs, until the sound of a soft click, which he instantly recognized; it was the cocking of a gun. He looked to his right to see Lana with a gun up against her head. Surprising him even more was to see who it was that had her at gun point: Mercy Graves.

"If you want her to live, Superman, you will bow before the General."

General? She had worked for Lex Luthor for who knows how many years, and now she had aligned herself with Zod? She had to be doing it in revenge for what happened to her former boss; she blamed him for his death, when the truth of the matter was that it was Metallo who had actually killed Luthor. Perhaps even that fact didn't matter to her; perhaps she acquired Lex's hate towards him anyway. Perhaps she was a secret lover?

Whatever the case, he did not appreciate having a personal friend be used against him. Did she know how much she meant to him? If so, did she know who he was? Somehow, he could not shake the sense that this whole big confrontation had been planned and Mercy had somehow been a major factor in this current development.

"Don't do it, Ms. Graves. Just put down your gun and..."

Her gun was tossed aside, but by the look on her face, the action was not done voluntarily. Before Mercy had the change to realize what was happening, some sort of invisible force aggressively pushed her backwards, away from Lana. "Hey—wha—?"

Lana was clearly stunned and confused; she had no idea if she should run for her life or not. Before she could even decide, her body began to elevate off the ground. Superman was just as startled by what he was seeing, but he had no doubt about what was happening. He turned to face Brainiac to see the three circles on his forehead glowing. Apparently, the android had more tricks that he had yet to reveal. The android was proving to be much more challenging than he anticipated; if there were still more abilities that he was holding back, then he doubted that he had any hope of winning this fight.

Lana was now hovering over his head as the android used his telekinesis to pull Lana towards him. Superman knew that he could not allow him to get his hands on her; he may never see her alive again. He was about to leap up and pull her down when Brainiac stopped him with his eye beams. It felt like an intense fire on his chest, where he was hit, and the impact sent him a few feet away. Those beams were deadly; each time, it felt like a little of his powers being drained from his body. His entire chest felt like it was being pricked by millions of tiny needles.

Fighting against the numbness and the pain, he went for one last attempt to save Lana, only to be brought down to his knees by another beam. He fought, again, against the pain, but it was starting to get noticeably harder. He looked up and found the motivation he needed to get back on his feet; the android had a firm grip around Lana's throat. He had her facing towards Superman, making sure he saw the horror in her eyes.

"No, wait!" His call was more of a plea than a threat. He feared what was in the mind of Brainiac; he had no idea how far the android was willing to go.

"You care too much for these weak, inferior insects. If it wasn't for that, you would have made an excellent leader for Lord Darkseid's armies."

"Don't do it!"

Lana let out a desperate cry as the android tightened his grip on her throat. Her face... moist with tears... scared out of her mind. Seeing her this terrified made him desperate to find a way to save her. He contemplated trying to use his heat ray vision to cut the arm off, but he did not know if he would be able to cut through that armor nor did he want to risk Brainiac using her as a shield. This was an attempt by the android to hurt him; he would not put it past him to force him to accidently kill her. It was a sinister trap, but one he was not going to fall for. Never the less, he had to do something or he may kill her out of spite.

"What will you do to spare the life of this one pathetic life form? Would you be willing to sacrifice yourself and serve the dark lord?" Superman had no answer. That was the one thing he could not do, and Brainiac knew it all too well. "Even if you agreed, the probability of deception by you is just too high to risk it."

Lana's body instantly stiffened, and her eyes bulged as she let out a breathless gasp. Brainiac released his hold on her, and she landed on her knees. Collapsing forward, he noticed a gaping hole in her back, with blood pouring out. With a gaping jaw, he looked up at Brainiac to see that his forefinger on his left hand had blood dripping on it. Somehow, he managed to turn his finger into some kind of knife.

Outraged, he zipped right at the android, and mustering all the strength he could, he threw a thunderous uppercut. This time, the android could not withstand the impact, and found himself flying down the road. Coming to an intersection, the traffic jam had caused a gas tanker to come to a halt in the middle of the intersection... right in the path of Brainiac. Upon collision, a cloud of flames erupted, causing a chain reaction of explosions of all the cars at the intersections.

Superman knew what he had done was unacceptable, even by his standards. He should have been more careful in putting innocent lives in danger, but all he could think about was what that android had done to Lana. Instead of going to put out the flames, he knelt down besides Lana, and gently rolled her onto her back.

Already, the blood was spreading out on the asphalt. Her face was ghostly white and the heat was quickly leaving her body. Quivering, her eyes looked up into his face. "I—I'm sorry, Clark, f—f—for everyth—th—thing. "

"Shhh! Keep your strength." It was the only thing he could think of saying. He know, as well as she did, that she was not going to survive, but there was no point letting her live her last few minutes in regret. If anything, he should be the one apologizing to her. If he handled things differently back in high school, this probably could have all been avoided.

* * *

><p>It took Lois longer than she hoped to find a safe way back out onto the streets of Metropolis; the damage the city was taking in this confrontation was extensive. She felt the ground shake when she heard a deafening explosion. Flames were quickly spreading, making it even more difficult to get out. She found a way out at the back exit of one of the towers, but that brought her out onto the next street over. Trying to get back onto the other street was where all the challenge was. She had to walk several blocks down to find a way over, and then after which, she had to fight her way through panicked people and over large pieces of debris and car wreckage.<p>

When she finally caught up to the action, she was not ready to see what she saw. She couldn't hold back her gasp when she found Lana lying in a pool of her own blood. Clark was kneeling beside her; she could only imagine what he was going through. She also feared what he might do in retaliation.

* * *

><p>"I'm cold."<p>

As Clark Kent, there was so many things he wanted to say; as Superman, he was at a loss as to what to do. The only other time he felt this useless was when his father died over ten years ago. There was nothing he could do to save his father, and now he was facing that very same scenario once more.

"I—I—I..." her final breath came abruptly as if her soul was aggressively ripped from her body. Her lifeless eyes were staring out into the abyss of blackness and her jaw was gaped open, showing the anguish she was in as she passed on.

He gently laid her head down on the ground. His face swelled up with tears and anger was boiling up inside of him. Lana deserved much better than this; her life had been taken from her much too early. He clenched his hands so tightly, that they shook. Like a volcano, the pressure inside of continued to build until he could hold it in no longer.

He unleashed a furious roar that caused the city to quake. People all over the city fell to their knees and covered their ears. Even the dogs were whining and running as far as they could from the terrifying noise. His voice carried beyond the city of Metropolis. The wildlife outside the city heard the roar and feared that an unknown predator was loose.


	30. Final Fury

**Chapter 30: Final Fury**

His explosion of rage finally came to its end, but the anger of what Brainiac had done continued to fester inside of him. Laying Lana's head softly onto the ground, he looked down the street at the flames that were burning out of control since the tanker exploded. A shadow appeared from within those flames. More fuel was thrown onto the fire when he saw Brainiac prance out of the flames. Besides being slightly covered in soot, the android was relatively unharmed from the explosion.

A new determination swelled up inside of him as he stood up. Tainted with a taste of darkness brought upon by the senseless killing of an innocent bystander, his purpose was to end this android at all cost. No more collateral damage; he was not going to accept any more fatalities on his behalf. No more lives were going to be lost in his name. That was not just a goal; that was a promise.

Fueled by this renewed determination to win, he charged at the android, starting at the normal human pace and quickly building up to the speed faster than a bullet train. He collided with android with such speed and strength, that he was able to catch him off guard and brought him for the ride. With Brainiac in his grasp, he knew that he had very little time before he tried to break free. He pushed himself as fast as he could before that could happen.

He zip zagged through the streets of Metropolis, taking the quickest route to the Metropolis National Park. If this battle was going to be fought, he was going to take it somewhere where people would be out of danger. The 'devil-on-his-shoulder' tried to whisper to him from the back of his head that it was also the perfect place to hide what he was about to do that android for what he did to Lana.

Reaching the park, he abruptly came to a stop, which threw Brainiac several yards. His metal body scraped up the ground as he landed, digging up the dirt in the process. The impact didn't do much to slow him down; he was back on his feet instantly. "This fight has gone on long enough, son of Jor-El."

Superman stared at him from underneath his brows, giving his eyes a dark, menacing look. "With that, we are in complete agreement."

"You fail to realize that you have already lost." His eyes began glowing, but no attack ever came forth. That didn't stop Superman from heightening his senses and look around for anything that was out of the norm. "I now have access every nuclear missile on this side of the planet. Surrender now or I shall rain a nuclear holocaust down on this planet. No one will survive."

His anger vanished instantly. Was this a bluff or was he serious? There was no telling with this android. One thing was for certain, he had underestimated Brainiac at every turn. With such a different outlook towards this planet, he wondered how Zod ever got along with him.

As if sensing his hesitation in taking him at his word, Brainiac took a step forwards towards him. "Don't believe me? Use your heightened hearing."

The android looked up to the sky, as a sign for him to do the same. He followed his line of sight up to a military chopper that was flying overhead, watching their every move. He knew right away that it was General Lane up in the helicopter, which was concerning enough. The General was planning something.

Putting that issue aside though, Brainiac had come to the same conclusion on General Lane's intentions. For some reason, he had decided not to dispose of the General, and this had to be the reason why. He focused his hearing in that direction. He could hear the general speaking to a frantic voice over the military radio.

"General, we've got a _BIG_ problem!"

"I don't want to hear it!" General Lane shouted over the roars of the propellers over his head. "I just want those damn jets on my mark, NOW!"

"Sir, we just got word that someone has activated every single nuclear missile in this country. They are all on a five minute countdown!"

Superman had heard enough to know that Brainiac was telling the truth. He also heard about jets that were on their way there. At first, he could not figure out what the General was about to do, but then it suddenly hit him like a brick. He knew enough about the type of weapons at the military's disposal, and if he was correct, this could well turn the tide back into his favor. The timers were set for five minutes, but he could hear the roars of the Jets on approach. They were less than a minute away. General Lane might have just saved his life, and the lives of the entire planet.

"What will it be, Kal-El? Will you sacrifice your life or the lives of the people you protect?"

The sounds of the air tearing became evident to Brainiac now, he looked up into the sky, but the jet had already flow by and dropped something over head. Sensing Brainiac's intentions, Superman tackled him to prevent him from destroying the bomb before it could detonate. He bombarded him with as many jabs across the face as he could.

* * *

><p>Whether Superman knew what kind of bomb he dropped, General Lane couldn't say for certain. It was more likely that he was thinking that he was sacrificing his life to assure the bomb destroyed the alien android, or robot—whatever it was. As much as he wished that Superman would be sacrificed, these soft bombs would only be a danger to the robot. The e-bomb was designed to destroy any technology beyond that of a steam engine. It didn't just render electronic devices useless, it pretty much friend them permanently. To Superman and organic matter, it was completely harmless, but to a highly sophisticated electronic device like the android, it was deadly... or so he hoped.<p>

Superman was doing his part to make sure the bomb detonated. If this bomb did its job, then he assumed the issue with the nuclear missiles would correct itself. He knew that the android was the one who had activated the nukes. Now, he knew why he attacked the Pentagon in the first place. With the android gone, then they would regain control of the missiles and be able to deactivate them before they launched. Just to be safe, however, he had ordered more bombs to be dropped. It was better safe than sorry; you can never underestimate aliens and alien technology.

The bomb hit ground just a few meters from Superman and the android. There was a very small explosion, but from the explosion, he could see a barely visible ripple that spread out like a small shockwave. Superman stepped back from the android as the ripple hit. The ripple hit the android causing a minor convulsion, but nothing more.

"Damn!" He shouted. It appeared that it was going to take more than just one e-bomb to take out this alien android. "I want more bombs now! Drop everything you have!"

Superman went back to battling with the android, but as the jets approached for another drop, he could instantly see a difference in the way the android fight. The single e-bomb seemed to rattle it. Perhaps several more would do the trick.

"General Lane," that annoying, boyish-like, squeaky voice called from other end of the radio. He was the same boy that contacted him about the situation with the nukes.

"You better have some good news for me, right now!" He glowered.

"We don't know what happened, but we've reacquired access to our missiles. They've all been deactivated."

That confirmed it! That one bomb had done more damage to that blasted robot than it had appeared. A handful more would almost surely do the job, and if not, then Superman had his work cut out for him. Three jets were approaching at mach-three, each carrying two more e-bombs. Safely out of the reach of danger, he watched in anticipation of his victory over the first menace.

* * *

><p>After the first bomb, Superman immediately noticed Brainiac's glowing eyes dimmed. He knew right then that the he had just lost control of all the missiles. Though the android was still standing, he could also see a big difference in his demeanor. His comments confirmed all of his suspicions. "Error... Error! Memory loss... Error!"<p>

With his sensitive hearing, Superman could hear three more military jets coming in for another pass. He had no idea if Brainiac was capable of defending himself from another attack, but he was not going to risk it. He leaped at the Kryptonian android and starting throwing his fists in series of jabs. There was no mistaken the damage that had been done; Brainiac's reactions had slowed down noticeably. He was unable to match the speed he was throwing his punches.

The military Jets flew by, and about five seconds later, he again stepped away as six consecutive electromagnetic bombs erupted. With each invisible shockwave, Brainiac convulsed violently. By the third explosion, sparks were starting to fly. With the explosion of the fourth bomb, his right eye exploded, sending out a misty black smoke into the air. The fifth explosion caused a steady stream of sparks flying from the creases of his neck. He was beginning to appear to be on the verge of disintegrating. With the final explosion, only his determination kept him on his feet. Most of his joints and circuitry were fried beyond repair. He could not move or his whole body could very well come apart.

The battle was over; it was only a matter of finishing the job. Stepping towards him, Superman grabbed hold of the android's head with both hand. With a sudden pull upward, the head was severed, and his robotic adversary was gone. The headless body collapsed to the ground. Disgusted by the cold, stone-like face on Brainiac's face, he dropped the head on top of the heap of smoldering metal.

He had only begun to relax after his victory when an eerie laugh reminded him that the war was still not over. General Zod hovered vertically down to the ground, holding Mercy Graved into his body until their feet had touched ground. "Very well done, Kal-El. I _ALMOST _rejoined the fight until he began to threaten to kill off the people of this planet. I could not have him do that; I need my army to command."

"Zod, this has to stop. There's been enough death and destruction; this is exactly what Darkseid wants!"

Zod shook his head as he let out a chuckle. "You know, you and I are very alike, more so than you would be willing to admit. You have your human woman by your side, and I have mine." He looked into Mercy eyes and smoothly caressed the side of her face. She smiled in return, reciprocating the passion that she felt for him. "There is only one difference between us."

His hand softly slid down to her neck, and in instant flash of violence, he tightened his grip around her throat. With a sudden twist of the wrist, he snapped her neck and dropped her limp body to the ground. "I don't allow these insignificant insects to become a weakness. Each and every one of them are disposable for the cause."

He could feel his anger returning; these unnecessary deaths were getting on his last nerve. No one deserved to be treated like this, including Mercy Graves. It was sad that she had the perfect opportunity to turn herself around, but instead, she allowed hatred to corrode her to the very end of her early retired life. He was going to make sure that she was the last casualty in this war. "This ends now!"


	31. Final Punishment

**Chapter 31: Final Punishment**

As hard as Superman tried to keep the fight from reentering the city, General Zod proved even more determined otherwise. The last punch had sent flying, backwards, across the park and into the busy highway that paralleled it. A maxed out city bus just happened to be driving down the road at that very moment. Unfortunately, it took the brunt of the hit as Superman came crashing into the side of the bus. The bus teetered onto its right wheels for a few seconds, causing all the people on the left side of the bus to fall out of their seats and unto the people on the other side. The added weight tipped the scale causing the bus to collapse onto its side. The glass windows sat the side of the bus shattered, throwing sharp, jagged fragments into the faces of many of the riders. The bus diagonally slid towards a street light, knocking it over, which started a chain reaction of fender benders.

Cars were smoking, and panicked, bruised, and bloodied people ran for their lives as General Zod hovered over the chaotic scene. Superman had no time to take a breather after the last attack. He pushed himself up onto his feet, his determination still as strong as before. Not allowing Zod to have the chance of going on the offense again, he leapt into the sky and raced towards him like a rocket, with both of his fists in front of him.

General Zod skirted swiftly to the side, clasping his hands together as he did. As Superman began to overshoot his target, he brought his clasped hands down on the back of his head. The blow caused stars to dance in front of his eyes, disorienting him and making him susceptible to another attack. Continuing his assault, Zod grabbed him by the arm and spun around, until they appeared to be nothing but a strange blur. Satisfied that he had gained enough momentum to deliver more damage, he broke out of his spin abruptly, throwing him towards a penthouse.

Unable to correct himself, he spiraled towards the corner of the building. His head cracked up against the corner of the building, causing the brick to shatter in that spot. The impact causes him to spin wildly out of control towards a side street which still had flowing traffic. A station wagon was driving down the road; the driver had not known that traveling this road that day would be the right place but the wrong time. Superman hit the ground, landing just enough on top of the hood to send it flipping in the air like a coin.

The car flipped right towards the intersection in the road, and plowed through a hanging traffic like. The car ripped through the power lines, sending sparks flying in all directions. The traffic light, itself, dropped to the ground, sending small amounts of glass fragments scattering onto the street. The car ended up hitting the ground on its front bumper right in the middle of the intersection. Luckily, all the cars traveling on the other road had the red light. The drivers in their cars watched the tossed car bounce onto its rear bumper rolling onto its four wheels.

All the drivers jumped out of the cars as curiosity overtook them; they wanted to get a closer look at the unbelievable wreck that they had just witnessed. When General Zod came hovering high overhead, everyone put two-and-two together and ran the opposite direction. They knew what caused the wreck, and they had no desire to be caught up in the devastation that was taking over the streets of Metropolis.

As invincible as Superman was, he definitely felt those impacts. Pain or no-pain, it did not matter to him; he was not going to let General Zod destroy this city. He brushed himself off and stood up. Ready to try again, he took to the sky up towards General Zod.

Crossing his arms in front of him, Zod took a deep breath and circled his lips. He unleashed an icy-cold super breath with winds that could compare to a hurricane. Superman could not avoid the icy wind, and as he continued to ascend towards the general, his body instantly began to freeze. He only made it half way to his target when the icy wind became too much. Frozen in the center solid chuck of ice, Superman could no longer keep flight. The mass of ice fell back to the earth, landing on the hood of an abandoned car, crushing it beyond reparability. After the proverbial dust settled, the streets of Metropolis became eerily quiet.

* * *

><p>Proud of his accomplishment, he took notice of the people on the streets. Most people were running from the danger zone, but he took notice of some television news reporter, and her cameraman risking their lives to film the battle. Mercy had told him about these 'camera' inventions, saying that the entire city, and perhaps the world, could be watching. It was only suitable that they see him destroy their savior.<p>

He slowly hovered towards the ground; his eyes focused solely on them. The skittish reporter and cameraman slowly and cautiously step back, noticing his gaze in their direction. His feet tenderly touched the ground as he approached the news crew. "Are you showing this live?"

"Uh-huh," the female reporter grunted, too scared to speak.

"Excellent, I want the world to hear this."

The camera man focused in on his face until the picture was crisp and clear. Zod stared into the camera with firmness and authority. "People of this world, I am your new ruler. Those that serve me well will be able to enjoy their lives as normal; those that do not—well—will have very few days remaining in this world. To the leaders of this world, you will kneel before me, and surrender your authority, your military, and all of their weapons. The longer your delay your compliance, the more innocent lives will be lost. I am General Zod, and you will kneel before me!"

As he addressed the world, from the corner of his eye, he noticed a handful of police officers making their way from the park and through the chaotic scene on the streets. This was the perfect opportunity to show the world what would happen to those who opposed him. He turned to face the direction where the officers were assembling. Sensing trouble was about to start again, the cameraman and reporter started backing away.

Taking a deep breath, he unleashed another wind attack, this time making sure that the temperature of wind was moderate. He had no need to kill these people; all he wanted is to demonstrate how futile it was to oppose him. Pounding them with a heavy wind, it was almost comical to watch the police officers try to fight against it. A few ended up falling and blowing away with all the garbage that was flying in the air; a couple officers rolled over hoods of cars before being blown away. There were one or two officers who tried hide behind cars for shielding, but the wind quickly became too much for the wrecked cars as well. A car or two started to slide sideways before flipping into the park.

Seeing that all the officers were no longer a threat to him, he ceased his winded-breath attack. The demonstration was now over—now came the punishment for the act of defiance. He found a series of single story strip-mall-like stores to his right. Hovering off the ground and into the air, he positioned himself across the series of stores before unleashing his heat ray vision from his pupils.

A Jewelry store was the first victim as it erupted in a massive explosion. He fired his heat beams at another store, two doors down, and it, too, let out an ear-deafening explosion. By the third explosion, Zod had no choice but to admit that he rather enjoyed causing this kind of chaos. The terror, on the faces of the people, was quite amusing to him. In the end, it will all be worth it if he can produce the same look on Darkseid's face.

* * *

><p>While Zod was distracting himself by causing mischief, Superman had been using his heat vision to warm the ice that encased him. It did not take long for the ice to become weak enough to start cracking. When that happened, his physical strength was able to do the rest. The chunk of ice split in half, releasing him from his icy prison.<p>

Quickly back onto his feet, he looked up to see that Zod was still busy firing his heat ray vision at stores, unaware that he was free. He had been fighting for an opportunity to be able to lure the Kryptonian general into a trap; this appeared to be his best opportunity. He had already tried sending him to the Phantom Zone, and he saw that coming a mile away. This time, he was going to get creative. Zod's punishment was going to fit the crime.

Jumping in the air, he flew at Zod like a bat out of hell. The general ceased his attacking as if he sensed something happening behind him. He turned around to Superman coming at him, but it was too late to do anything about it. Superman tackled him in the sky, entrapping him in a bear hug.

Zod struggled to break free when he noticed a clear, Kryptonian crystal in his hand. Superman squeezed the crystal has hard as he could, causing it shatter into dust. The next then they knew, they were engulfed by a bright white light. The flash of light lasted for about two seconds, before it vanished; and with it, both Kryptonians disappeared as well.

* * *

><p>Zod was mentally distraught when they reappeared inside Superman's Fortress of Solitude. At first, he had no idea where he was or how he got there. In his shoes, Superman imagined that he would have thought he was back on Krypton. It was the instant shock of his surroundings was what Superman had counted on. He took advantage of it by releasing his hold on the dazed Kryptonian general and delivering a powerful jab into his chest cavity.<p>

The punch sent him flying backwards into a large, ice-crystal compartment. A crystal podium rose from the ground besides Superman. On the podium, were a series of sockets with various colors of crystal-rods sticking out. Before Zod could come to his senses, he pulled out a dark red crystal-rod from its socket, which caused a crystal door to slide down, entrapping Zod inside like a caged animal. Superman placed the red crystal-rod into a lonely slot at the very bottom of the podium.

This slot was similar to a computer's USB port. The Crystal-rod was like a flash drive; sticking the flash drive into a computer's USB port caused some sort of action to occur. This was the Kryptonian version of that technology. He slid the red crystal-rod into the slot. The lights inside the entire Fortress dimmed as a red light radiated inside the compartment which held General Zod.

"Wh—wh—what is this treachery? I command you to release me!" Zod screamed from inside the compartment. He jumped to his feet and began to pound on the ice-crystal walls. Within a minute, he began to grow weary and tired as if his metabolism had suddenly vanished. After another minute of soaking in this red light, it disappeared and the compartment released him back into the Fortress.

He was so exhausted that he had to eat his pride and crawl out on his hands and knees. "Wh—what have you done to me?"

"I saturated you in solar radiation from a red sun. In other words, I laid dormant your powers."

"No! _NO_!" Zod screamed in fury, as he lunged forward in a futile attempt to fly towards him. Falling flat on his face, the truth was finally dawning on him. "_I AM ZOD! _I cannot—_WILL NOT_—be denied what is rightfully mine!"

"Zod, there's only one thing that's rightfully yours, and I'm going to take you to it right now."


	32. The Dust Settles

**Chapter 32: The Dust Settling**

Lois followed the trail of destruction and the sounds of terrified screams. It led her to Metropolis National Park, where a major part of the battle appeared to take place. She should have guessed sooner that this was where Superman would have taken Brainiac; it was the best place in Metropolis to fight a blood-thirsty robot from hell without endangering people. She found a group of police officers surrounding the remains of the android, but Superman was nowhere to be seen. Based on testimonies of frightened onlookers, she learned that Superman was fighting the other Kryptonian until a bright light flashed and they both disappeared.

She had no idea what to make of the description of events; it could've been tainted by fear. Being afraid had a tendency to make one see strange things, but then again, these were aliens, she was talking about. Who knew what Superman was trying to do, or did do, for that matter. Her heart had already imagined the worst case scenario. What if he sacrificed himself to stop this rogue alien?

Before that though could start festering and playing havoc on her emotions, she saw Lieutenant Inspector Dan Turpin and Captain Maggie Sawyer inspecting the scene. When Dan saw her, he made his way towards her; Maggie followed close behind. "Any word on what happened to Big Blue?"

"I've been trying to find out, myself," she admitted. "All I'm getting are conflicting reports."

"Lois?" General Lane called out, marching towards Lois. She could swear, sometimes, that he had some kind of homing beacon implanted inside of her; he could find her in baseball stadium during a game of the World Series.

At that moment, he was the last person she wanted to see. "What did you do, father?"

He was not expecting to be snapped at by his eldest daughter. All he was wanting was to find out if she and Lucy were alright; not to be interrogated like a prisoner of war. "What?"

"You tried to pollute the planet with Kryptonite dust? Have you gone insane? Because of you, General Zod became much more of a threat to this city than he should have been. Your actions put an entire city in serious jeopardy. He took your self-righteous plan, and turned to his advantage, and for all we know, may have cost this world a true hero!"

The general let out a disgruntled grunt. He had not wanted to talk to his daughter about Operation Dust Cloud. He had tried his best to hide it from his daughter's prying eyes. As much as he hated the fact that she was working for the media, she continued to prove that she was very good at what she did. There was only one way she could have found out. "You know about that, huh? Miss Lang and I are gonna have some words about this."

"Good luck with that, Dad!" Lois snapped, letting her life-long grudge, that she had with her father, to come out in an explosion that had been a long time coming. She was one of the casualties in this mess of yours."

His mood immediately became somber. After having that news thrown in his face, he did not want to be accused of being insensitive. "Lois, I don't know to make you understand. I'm not out to get rid of Superman, as you are willing to believe. It's my job to keep American's safe, not Superman's."

Lois shook her head in disgust. "Why don't you stow your pride, for once, and how about you work with him for a change?"

"What do you think I've been trying to do?" her father replied. "What do you think the Vigilante Act is all about?"

Hearing those two words '_Vigilante Act_' brought a sour taste to her mouth. This man even had himself deceived by this lie. "Let me tell you what you can do to with your stupid Vigilante act..."

"Well, I'll be damned! Look!" Dan Turpin, was relieved over a distraction from this awkward moment.

Everyone look up to the sky to see Superman flying towards the park. He was holding General Zod by the collar of his shirt. The general was waving franticly in clear opposition of being manhandled. Lois felt her anxious heart be overcome with relief upon seeing him still alive. Her imagination was starting to get the best of her. Boy, never in her life was she glad that her instincts were wrong.

Superman came in for a soft landing, after which, he shoved General Zod towards Dan Turpin. Dan had to fight the urge to stumble back away from him. Superman suppressed a laugh. "It is alright, Lieutenant Inspector; I stripped him of his powers. For all intent and purposes, he is completely human, now."

"Really?" Dan said, not in disbelief, but more with a mocking tone at the expense of the former Kryptonian general. He worked up the courage and gently shoved the General back a step.

"How dare you touch me, you pathetic little human!"

When no immediate physical assault came as a result of his mocking, all the confidence that his badge gave to him came back into full swing. "I'm gonna enjoy this. You, _MR._ Zod, are under arrest."

"How dare you treat me as such!" He growled as Dan commenced handcuffing him wrists behind his back. "There are no prisons that can hold Zod forever!"

Dan shoved him abrasively onward. "Yeah, you keep referring to yourself in the third person, and someone in prison might just make you their bride. Move it!"

Dan and Maggie escorted their new prisoner away, and that gave General Lane the opportunity to speak to Superman without the Lieutenant of the MSCU. He was not fond of that officer and how he so willingly accepted Superman in his role of protector of Metropolis. "I have to admit, I didn't expect you to hand him over to the court of law so freely."

Superman's looked at him with firm, uncompromising eyes. He was not surprised to hear such a comment from the General Lane. "General, you are mistaken about my intentions. I'm not here to replace you or what you fine, heroic warriors do. My ultimate interest is in saving lives and keeping Earth safe from other evil species that roam the galaxy. When this planet is not in jeopardy, I volunteer to help local fire and police departments by doing things that could be dangerous for them. All I seek is to save lives whenever possible. I will not get involved in wars between nations; I am strictly prohibited from getting involved in your politics. If I register with the government, as your Vigilante Bill proposes, all I end up doing is handing my life over to the politicians, as some sort of super weapon to be used to settle their political disputes with other nations. Even you must know that not every politician has the best interest of their constituent at heart."

He was right, there were a growing number of politicians that he absolutely hated, and seemed hell bent on tying his hands behind his back, crippling his ability to keep American's safe. They got their thumbs up their rear ends as they talk about world peace, and everyone getting along. The problem was... not every nation wanted peace. There were those who were hell bent on killing the innocent. His greatest fear was that another event like 9-11 would happen. If these stupid politicians did stop impeding his ability to do his job, another tragedy like the World Trade Center was inevitable. He often thought about retiring before that could ever happen. He knew that if it happened on his watch, he would be one of those that would find a Neuse around their neck. "You're right. I wouldn't trust many politicians these days."

"I want what every reasonable man wants; peace between all the nations, but I chose to work towards that by living in such a manner that when people see the way I live, they will want to drop their weapons. I promise to do my best to work in the confines of local law, if you will give me the courtesy of not trying to enlist me."

General Lane shook his head in approval; he could live with that arrangement. "I suppose I can back down on from that bill." Before going back to his chopper, there was one little thing that Superman had said that unnerved him. "So, you say there are other hostile aliens out there?"

"Yes, that's why I was sent here. There's one particular war lord that would make Earth's Hitler look like a day in the park." All three of them looked around at the devastation that surrounded them. "Well, at least an average day in the park."

"Well, I hope you're wrong about that," the general replied before turning around and making his way back to the military helicopter at the far end of the park.

Now alone, Lois and Superman found themselves staring into each other's eyes, not quite sure what to say. "Would you mind flying me back to my apartment?"

She knew that under these circumstances, her request seemed... inopportune. After fighting for his life and overcoming great odds, her question could seem very selfish, especially in the eyes of everyone else. That's why she gave him a look to tell him that this was her way of telling him that she needs to talk to him in a more private surrounding.

It took him a few seconds, but he could read her eyes and take a hint. "It would be my pleasure, Miss Lane."

He gently scooped her up in his arms and leaped up into the sky. It was a very short trip to the balcony porch to Lois' condominium, and it was very quiet as well. Superman had half expected the conversation to start in mid-flight, but she was too busy figuring out how to say what she wanted to say. This was a topic she had no experience in at all, and she was afraid that she was going to sound corny.

By the time they landed on the stone patio, she figured that she was going to rip the band-aid off quickly, and go for broke. "I have something for you."

She ran for the sliding glass door that led to the inside of her apartment. She slid the door open and reached for her purse on the night stand next to the brown, leather couch. She didn't have to do much digging to find what she was looking for; she always kept the inside of her purse neatly organized. After finding what she was looking for, she ran back to him, as if she was afraid that he would fly off.

She politely reached towards his face, and placed a pair of black, plastic-framed, fake-glasses over his eyes. "You're super handsome as it is, but there's just something about this look that I love."

"Wait, these aren't my..." It took him a second, but he then realized what was happening. It wasn't the fact that these glasses were not his; it was her seeing him with the glasses on while still in his suit. She could see the Clark Kent side of him. Somehow, she discovered his secret identity. "H—how did you know?"

"I'm a damn good reporter, that's how. Didn't I tell you that I was going to find out who you really are?" Lois said with a sadistic smile. "I can't tell you how happy I am, that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person. I thought I was losing my mind when I realized that I was falling in love with Clark Kent."

"You love Clark Kent?" He said softly in a playful manner.

"Him and all his gauchely idiosyncrasies."

Clark put his arms around her hips and drew her closer, feeling a great burden fall off his shoulders, now that he no longer had to hide the truth from her. It had been very difficult not to share it with her. His secret identity had to be guarded to the best of his ability, and at first, he thought that doing so meant a life-long journey alone. Perhaps, he didn't have to, after all.

Holding her in his arms, he knew that this was right. He could almost feel the approval of his Kryptonian father, as if he had somehow arranged this. Staring into each other eyes, their lips were drawn together like metal to magnets. Their bodies pressed together, and their arms wrapped around each other in deep embrace. The world around them faded into the far distance, as they established a connection between that would forever change their relationship.

* * *

><p>What remained of the Intergang crime lords was present at the secondary hideout. All the young recruits that they had were gone, thanks to the bumbling idiocy of Bruno and his idea to revive Metallo. They've been brought to ruin, and now, they were lost as to how to salvage what they could and start again. The mood among many of them reflected a strong skepticism that the Intergang could be saved at all.<p>

"We done for. There no way we can recover from this sort of catastrophe!" The female oriental crime lord said with a very thick Chinese accent. "There no way we can compete against Falcone's empire in Gotham!"

"Perhaps we can recruit some outside help?" Another crime lord suggested. "How 'bout the Joker? He's got no love for the Falcone family."

"Are you mental? Joker is too much of a freak! He's got no love for any crime family. You tell him what we're up to, and he'll be coming to Metropolis causing all kind of ruckus. There's no way we can control a man like that."

"How about Two-Face or even that cat girl person?" Another suggested.

"How about neither," a strange voice replied, instantly attracting the attention of the handful of crime lords. An elderly, heavy-set, woman stood there looking out-of-place.

"Yo, lady, I think you're lost; the nursing home is two blocks away."

The woman only smiled sweatly, but her voice showed much more strength than a simple grandmother. "Well, ain't you a dapper, young moron."

"Yo," the young, African-American crime lord pounded his fist on the table. "You betta beat it, grandma, or you might just end up makin' a trip to the morgue, instead." He didn't care how old she was, or the fact that she was a woman; if she continued to diss him, he was going to slit her throat.

The woman shook her head and smiled. She showed no real signs of dementia or being senile. She stood straight up on her own power, without your typical elderly hunch. For someone her age, she appeared to be very healthy as if she was thirty years younger. "You young whippersnappers are always hot-headed. The name is Granny Goodness, boys. Your little play group here has served its purpose. There will be no need to bring it back to life."

Was this lady serious? It was almost laughable to see this granny try to control the Intergang. She had to be mentally out there. Perhaps she escaped from the loony bin. She was to "sweet" looking to be taken seriously as a crime lord. "Lady, I think you forgot to take your meds. I don't think you know where you are."

A mental switch flipped within her psyche, and her sweet, but firm granny composure turned into a vile, grotesque villain. "I know exactly where I am. I'm at the very spot where I'll get to watch all of you die. Furies, kill them all!"

A bright white radiance ripped through the fabric of reality, forming what looked like a tunnel of white light. Stepping out of the 'tunnel', came a handful of young women, who's faces where hidden by the brightness of the light.

The only thing that identified them as women were their figures. The front woman was freakishly-tall and athletically-built. Even blinded by the light, they could see sparkles shimmering off her warrior-like armor. Her helmet only added to her threatening look. Behind her to the left was a short, but stocky woman who wore red and yellow leather. Her attire made her look more like a military pilot. Of the four women, she appeared to be the least intimidating. Beside her was an oddly shaped women. She figure resembled like some kind of woman-slash-beast hybrid. Her eyes were wild, showing a mentally instable personality. It was hard to see through the blinding light, but it appeared she had large, pointed teeth like that of a lioness. Her 'hands' were more like paws with large claws that would put Freddy Krueger to shame. Finally, there was a woman dressed almost like a dominatrix with her sexy, tight black leather short dress. She was drop dead gorgeous, which was almost a contradiction to the violence of her whip, which sparked with electricity coursing through it. These women were warriors in their own right, and their sights were set on the crime lords.

Granny smiled as her warriors positioned themselves for the kill. She could not have been more proud of her girls. "Hail, Darkseid!"

For all the guns that they had on them, none of them made any difference at all. For the next thirty minutes, the abandoned warehouse had to keep in all the blood-curdling screams and sounds of torturous forms of death that no man should ever have to endure. The Intergang was no more.

* * *

><p>The Funeral for Lana Lang came to an end. Clark was joined by his mother, who wanted to pay her respect. She had always liked that young girl, and if life had turned out differently for Clark, she was convinced that Lana would have been her daughter-in-law. Life ended up steering them in two separate directions, and she understood the sacrifice that Clark had endured to become the man who he was destined to be.<p>

"Are you sure, you're okay?" she asked him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. They were walking away from the casket as the groundskeepers, along with all the other people who attended the funeral. The groundskeepers were already starting to lower the casket down into the ground.

"I'm fine, Mom. I wish things could have ended differently for her, but I'm okay." He assured her, and as strange as it was, he was telling the truth. He would always remember the times that they had together in high school, but his heart had moved on. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to come back and visit you at the hospital."

"Oh, don't worry about that," She said, waving a hand as to sweep that negative feeling aside. "You had your hands full in Metropolis."

"Speaking of which, I promise to come by soon and repair the damage to the farm. You don't have to hire any carpenters."

"Wasn't planning to," She smiled. "You maybe Superman, but I'm still your mother. I can still tell you what to do, young man."

Clark chuckled as he looked out towards the street that paralleled the graveyard. A cab was parked among the several black limousines. Lois and Lucy were in the middle of a farewell hug, which meant that Lucy was about to leave for college. "I'll see you later, Mom. There's something I need to do."

"You go ahead," she assured him. She never had to worry about him ever missing his ride; he was his own transportation.

He left his mother's side and made his way to Lois and Lucy. Jimmy was also there to see Lucy off, but he had the appearance of a child who was losing his best friend. He knew that Jimmy had grown quite fond of Lucy, and he hoped that they could still make their relationship work long distance. He placed a hand on Lois's shoulder. "So, you're off to college?"

"Yeah, I've delayed it as long as I can, but if I don't go now, I'll miss registration." She replied, with a tinge of regret behind her voice. After her experience here in Metropolis, she was not looking forward to the tedious and boring life of college. "I'm happy to see you two going steady. I was afraid that Lois' crush on Superman was blinding her to reality. I was afraid she would never settle down."

"Oh, shush up, kid!" Lois said, playfully shoving her little sister.

Clark laughed, as he rubbed her back with his hand. Just like all new couples, there was seldom a time where they weren't touching each other. Often in the form of caressing during intimate times or relaxing messages, it was quickly clear to everyone how much they were in love.

Lucy said her farewell to Jimmy, which ended in a passionate hug and kiss. Neither of them was really anxious to let go, but the impatient cab driver honking the horn proved to be enough to separate them. Lucy bade everyone one final farewell before climbing in the backseat of the taxi, and taking off to start her journey to the airport.

When the cab was out of sight, Clark could see a dark cloud of depression rise from Jimmy. "You alright, Jimmy?"

"Yeah, sure," he said, less than convincingly. "I'm gonna go for a walk." With his eyes focused downward onto his feet, he followed the sidewalk, not knowing or caring where it was leading.

"Boy, everything's a crisis at that age," Lois said. She looked over at him and noticed that his eyes were all over the place. He was pointing his ears in all directions, trying to locate the source of commotion. "What do you hear?"

"Sounds like a Bank Robbery."

So it begins. Entering a relationship with him, she knew she was going to have to share him with the rest of the world. There was going to be times that he would have to run off without any notice. She knew that it was not going to be an easy life, but she never sought after anything that was easy. If it was too easy, then she wasn't interested. Whatever sacrifices there needed to be, she was willing to pay it. She was too much in love not to. "So what are you waiting for?"

Showing a smile to recognize how lucky he was to have a woman like her at his side. He turned towards a direction away from everyone and ran. As he ran down the sidewalk, he grabbed at his button down shirt underneath his tux jacket. He ripped the shirt open, revealing the red S-symbol.


	33. Prologue

**Prologue**

The Fortress of Solitude was his home away from home. It also served as a tribute to a fallen people. As comfortable as it was for him, Superman knew that changes had to be made. The frigid cold of the Arctic and the lack of furniture and décor did not bother him in the least. However, for a human being, the conditions were not survivable. That had to change if he was going to bring Lois there to visit. He couldn't just have a relationship with her and not share this part of his life. Work had to be done to make this place more comfortable for her.

This trip to the Fortress had him bringing the remains of Brainiac. This wasn't necessarily a trophy to be displayed; he wanted to make sure that Brainiac stayed on ice. Using his heat ray vision, he melted a six foot compartment in the icy wall. After putting the two pieces of the android inside the compartment, he used his icy breath to encase them in ice. The final result was a see through section in the ice-wall where the body was displayed standing up. "Welcome to your new home."

A bright red beam appeared out of nowhere, and hit him in the back, throwing him into the icy wall where his face was implanted through the ice. Before his mind was even able to comprehend what was happening, a massive hand grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him to the other side of the Fortress. His back slammed into the wall, but even after taking such a hard blow to his back, he remained on his feet. This gave him the benefit to gather his senses and see who had invaded his Fortress and was attacking him at full force.

Standing across the Fortress was a massive alien; with skin of gray-stone. He was even more massive than Superman, standing probably about seven or eight feet tall. His biceps were almost twice the size of his own; it was almost a sight to behold. His stone head had some kind of blue helmet the covered most of his head except for his face. His glowing red eyes smoked as he stood there with an evil grin on face. "This is not another vision, Son of Krypton; I am very real!"

"Darkseid!" There was no mistaken the voice, and now he finally had a face to put with it. Now longer was he hiding in the shadow of his visions.

"You've impressed me, Superman, I'm usually not easily impressed," His voice was deep, dark... almost god like. "You've been granted great powers by the yellow sun, but even you must realize: your powers are insignificant next to my own."

Superman leaped towards the dark lord, hoping to take the element of surprise. He nearly floated above ground as he raced towards him, bringing his right arm back in preparation of delivering a punch across his face. When the time came, he threw that punch, only to have his entire fist caught in the palm of his massive right hand. Darkseid's entire hand engulfed his fist as if his fist was the size of an infants.

Grinning, he began to clamp down on his fist. Superman screamed in agony, as the pain brought him down to his knees. Desperate to free his hand before it was crushed, he prepared to fire his heat ray vision into the dark lord's face. Sensing the attack, he released his hold on the fist and instead his gigantic hand grabbed hold of his face. His entire face was covered by the palm of his hand. When he tried to fire his heat rays, it backfired. If it caused any pain to Darkseid, he was not showing it, but as for Superman, his entire face was covered in soot, burned by his own doing.

Still grabbing onto Superman's head, he lifted him up until his body was dangling loosely over the ground. Without much effort, he tossed him like a rag doll towards the main crystal podium. He collided with it with such force, it broke into two and fell to the ground before he did.

"I've known about Earth for eternity. I know everything there is about this primitive planet. I find their religion of Judeo Christianity the most interesting." He stomped towards Superman like a monster not quite finish playing with its pray. He wrapped his fingers around his neck and hoisted him up over his head to clearly show that he was the more superior of the two. "If Judeo Christianity is the truth, then _I_ AM the devil!"

He released his hold on Superman, dropping him down onto his feet. It was a move to clearly to demonstrate that he was not afraid of anything the Kryptonian could throw at him. He knew what Darkseid was saying, but Superman had his own message for the lord of Apokolips. He would fight with every fiber of his being until his dying breath. He lunged at him like a cornered animal defending himself. His arms became like a blurr as he through a series of punches as fast as he possible could. Each punch was aimed for his chest. He was not trying to deliver a knockout punch; he knew that it was not going to be that easy. He was sending a message that he could push back just as hard.

Darkseid got that message as the punches caused him to take a few steps backwards. His response almost made giving the message a mistake. He used his right arm to swat Superman back, and then with surprising swiftness, he kicked him in the chest. Superman's chest felt like it was on fire as he again hit the wall, cracking the thick, layer of ice upon impact.

Darkeseid walked towards him, stalking him. "Don't worry, I'm not here to kill you... yet. I could destroy you right now with my Omega beam, but then you wouldn't learn anything." He grabbed Supermans face with fierce speed, cupping his chin between his thumb and forefinger, and squeezing painfully until his lips puckered and his teeth clenched. "You have all the power in the galaxy, and have but just one weakness. That merely makes you god-like. I have no such weakness; that's what makes me a god! A demi-god, like yourself, cannot compare to an actual god. Think about that, as I force you to watch me conquer this world. When next we meet... I bring the hell of Apokolips down on this world."

The dark lord threw him up into the air behind him. He spun around and fired his Omega Beams from his glowing red eyes. The two read beams zig zagged in a unpredictable course, making it impossible for Superman to escape. The red beams made one final zag before hitting him in the chest. The impact sent Superman spiraling through the icy-crystal ceiling and roof of the Fortress, and out into the frozen and blizzard-like tundra of the Arctic. He hit the ground hard, nearly a quarter mile away from the Fortress.

On the cusp of slipping into unconsciousness, he looked out at the front of his Fortress. His family crest, made of Krytponian crystal and ice hung dominantly over the entrance. In an instant, he watched as explosion after explosion rocked the Fortress, sending out fire and sparks in all direction. The Family Crest, the giant 'S' incased in a diamond, disintegrated into several large pieces as it collapsed and shattered. The Fortress began to crumble like a house of cards. The commotion and the explosions caused the ice to melt, and whatever remained of the Fortress after the explosions sank to an icy grave. There was nothing left of the Fortress of Solitude, and after watching it sink, Superman found himself swept away into unconsciousness.

**...TO BE CONTINUED**

**COMING APRIL 2012: Superman: The Man of Tomorrow (The climactic conclusion to the Superman Trilogy)**


End file.
